Major Crimes: Triad
by Lothar Hex
Summary: Set six months after Zootopian Vice, Nick and Judy are now part of the ZPD's Major Crimes Unit, which investigates the most serious of crimes. When some new players arrive from Hong Kong intent on establishing themselves, they upset the delicate balance of organised crime in the city. Our heroes are determined to stop them...and Mr. Big.
1. Internment

The nights of Zootopia's Sahara Square were incredibly cold for those who were not prepared for it, and had no idea how the weather in deserts worked. This was especially confusing to those not in the know when the weather around the city was in that weirdly temperamental mid-December to early January period, where it can be freezing one day and pleasantly sunny the next. Many mammals would be surprised to learn that the reason for this was actually the ground. By day the lack of humidity and water meant the sands of the desert absorbed twice as much heat and radiation from the sun as most other 'normal' surfaces. Conversely, at night this also meant that they lost twice as much heat for the exact same reasons. On this particular night as well, the wind was adding an extra chill to the air. The mammals who had driven to the space between two dunes and were now toiling away with shovels were ignorant to these facts, but didn't complain about the cold. Complaints lead to being _disciplined_ , and they'd had enough of that in their careers (if you could call it that) to ask for more. Hidden by the night and the shadows of the two dunes, they took silently to their task. If anyone had been out there with them, they would have seen little else but silhouettes. Seven in total until they dispersed, where as one seemed to sit against the side of one of the dunes.

"Do you think what Master made us do was wise, Dragon?" a haughty, British accented voice said.

"If you'd asked me that two years ago, I would have unquestionably said yes, Tai," the one called Dragon responded, shovelling more sand aside. "Now? I suppose I just must trust that the Master knows what he's doing."

"You don't think he does though, do you?" Tai said, as he continued to dig next to his large compatriot.

"It is not my place to judge."

"You may feel that way, but when I was his number two, I knew that sometimes the Master requires… guidance. Perhaps you are too afraid?" Tai answered, but before he could say anything else he was cut off by a growl from the second largest mammal of the group.

"We've heard all this before Tai," a feminine, yet deep and threatening voice said. Her manner indicated that she had very little time for the one known as Tai.

"You would defend him Jo Li?" Tai said back, a growl of his own.

"Now now everyone," another, smaller feminine voice answered. It sounded like it was coming from around knee height of all the others. "I'm sure we don't want to see Tai get the shit beaten out of him again."

"Say that again Liu!" the shadow called Tai started, his growl lengthening.

"For the love of God will all of you SHUT UP!" a deep booming voice echoed between the dunes. Despite the images the voice brought of a large, dominating mammal, it seemed to be coming from even lower down than Liu's voice. "Tran, please tell me these guys haven't attracted anyone's attention?"

"Nope!" A high spirited and in fact high flying voice game from above the dunes. "We're good Rogen."

"Glad to hear," Dragon said as he finished digging. He held out a paw to Jo Li, who hoisted him up effortlessly, followed by the petulant Tai. A few minutes later some grunts could be heard followed by the soft sound of something heavy landing in sand. A few minutes later the sound of shovelling sand resumed, while the chatter did not.

"Alright, let's get back to Master, it'll soon be light," Dragon said placing the shovel over his shoulder

"Are you sure it's deep enough?" Tai said, following the voice of Dragon. Suddenly the sound of something flat and metallic hitting flesh and fur could be heard.

"Question me again and you'll find out exactly how deep that hole is. Understand?" Dragon didn't wait for an answer as Tai wheezed. Eventually, the six shadows left the scene and clambered into a nearby van, which left a trail in the san which was soon covered by the wind.

The seventh was nowhere to be seen, and wouldn't be for another two weeks.

* * *

"Join the ZPD! Earn the admiration and respect of your fellow mammal! Make the world a better place! Oh, and root around in dumpsters on a cold afternoon," Judy groaned as she jumped on top of the closed lid of the large dumpster.

"Eh it's not so bad," Nick said as he climbed up the side, Judy holding out her paw to pull him up. "When I lived on the streets for eight months I had to eat out of these sometimes. _That's_ when I would hate it. I tell ya Fluff, you've never been hungry if you've never had to eat fuzzy pizza." He stopped, head cocking to the side as he took the trip down memory lane. "Gave it an interesting aftertaste though," he added, before looking down at his fiancée. Judy now had her concerned face on. Nick had told her all this before of course, but she always got upset when he talked about the tough life he'd lived before he met her. A small touch of the paw from Judy was comfort for him, but he suspected she did it for herself as well, as if to say to him without words 'everything's better now.' He didn't need anyone telling him that, he knew it every time he looked at Judy, and especially when he woke up in the morning with her by his side.

 _Hard to believe I'll be married to her in just a few months,_ he thought, and felt like the luckiest fox in the world. Though that thought left him a few seconds later when his and Judy's superior in the Zootopia Major Crimes Unit, the bovine Detective Sergeant Carrot Ironpaw, opened the second lid of the dumpster and the smell hit him.

"Sorry about this you two," the sergeant said sincerely. "I'd do it if I could but I've got as much chance of destroying the evidence as finding it."

"Yeah, probably doesn't hurt that we're the lowest mammals on the totem pole," Nick said, winking at Carrot. In all honesty, he knew the sergeant would do this if he could, he was that kind of mammal.

"Hopefully not for much longer," Judy said, smiling. That was true. For four months, she and Nick had been grafting away as trainee detectives, before then being assigned as the seconds to the detectives who were fully fledged members of the Major Crimes Unit six weeks ago. It was part of the deal that Mayor Lionheart and Bogo had hashed out when the mayor agreed to set up the unit, that Nick and she would be part of it slightly faster than other detectives. It still seemed a little unfair to her, as most over detectives needed to have at least a year under their belt before being considered, but she'd take the pay raise all said and done. Their review was up in a few days and she was convinced they'd be accepted as full members of the MCU, with all the benefits and authority that entailed.

Carrot handed Judy a bag containing a set of hard rubber foot coverings sized for her and Nick, along with a set of rubber gloves. They put them on and Judy prepared to jump into the open dumpster, when Nick stopped her.

"Carrots have you already forgotten what happened at the last dumpster? You know, the one you jumped in without looking?" he said, tutting theatrically. Judy winced of the memory of jumping into the last dumpster and almost stepped right on a _syringe_ ,which would have easily pierced her foot coverings. She'd spent a good twenty minutes after that checking her feet for anything that resembled a cut. "Me first this time," Nick continued and lowered himself gently and deftly into the trash. He held up his arms for his bunny.

"Such a gentle-mammal," Judy teased, allowing Nick to grab her by the hips to lower her the rest of the way, and she only tensed a little when her feet touched the, for lack of a better word, ground.

"OK, so our dealer was seen running down this alley and when his weapon and the drugs were not found on him. How's the victim anyway Sarge?" Nick asked.

"She's in the hospital, the knife got her kidney and part of her intestine. They're not sure if she'll pull through."

"Goddammit," Nick huffed. The perp they had in custody was part of a larger drug ring that Carrot and Cheery were trying to investigate, with Nick and Judy, as usual, acting as their seconds. They'd spent the last week chasing leads into a new drug gang, who were unusually good at keeping out of visible trouble and not leaving damning evidence behind. Then after all that, it turned out the break they got was one of their dealers stabbing a pygmy goat prostitute who had attacked him while trying to get her fix while in front of almost a dozen witnesses. The girl was now in serious condition at Zootopia General undergoing emergency surgery. Nick always gave a little extra care to prostitutes due to his mom having to work as one when he was a kit, so he was taking this case a little personally now.

All that being said, Judy was also angry, not only at the possible death of another mammal regardless of their profession, but that after all their hard work, the break in the they caught was the idiot dealer running right into a patrol that consisted of Bob Trumpet and Harold Grizzoli. Being the largest predator and prey officers on the force, the wombat had practically fainted at the sight of them. Unfortunately, he had disposed of the evidence before that. Fortunately it was within minutes of the crime, so the area they had to search was narrowed down to a small pawful of alleys in a single block radius. This was the third alley they'd tried and about the tenth dumpster, and Judy was getting increasingly more agitated by the minute, especially since her run in with the syringe. It wasn't as bad as the sewer they had to crawl around in six months ago to rescue a tiger cub, but it was damned close.

"OK, you start in that corner, I'll start there, and we'll meet in the middle like the rest," Judy said pointing to a corner near Nick. Her fiancé nodded and moved to the corner and started picking through the trash slowly. She turned and did the same, carefully move bags aside and trying not to breathe through her nose.

Ten minutes later, she was beginning to fear they'd be heading for dumpster number four soon, when Nick barked out "EUREKA!" She turned and found that he was holding a bag of powder triumphantly…or as triumphantly as could be considering it looked like he had found it next to a used diaper. "And I do mean eu- _reek_ -a," he said holding his nose as he held the bag as far away from him as possible.

"Nice find Nick!" Carrot said as Nick passed the bag up to him. "Any sign of the knife?"

"Not yet," Judy said and shifted her foot. As the garbage moved, she felt something hard brush up against her foot. She moved carefully and reached down, brushing the detritus away, and… there it was. A small knife with an even smaller amount of drying blood on the blade.

"Got it," Judy said, picking it up carefully in her paw. Carrot passed down an evidence bag and she deposited the weapon in, before passing it back up.

"Excellent work detectives," their superior said, and offered a hoof, Judy took it and was lifted out by the massive bovine, shortly followed by Nick. "One dangerous mammal off the street and hopefully we can use him to start breaking up the rest of his gang. Good work on getting the information on his location too Wilde."

"You can thank my anonymous informant for that," Nick said. He wasn't about to reveal it was his old friend Finnick who had passed on the info. While the old fox was attempting to go straight, he still had plenty of contacts of the less than legal nature, and passed on what he could to Nick. In return, Nick made sure that this never got back to Finnick. Oh the guy could take care of himself, but being known as snitch to some of these mammals was a death sentence. The only other person who knew what was going on was Judy and Nick trusted her with his life and those of his closest friends and family.

"Well they're not here so you'll have to do," Carrot said, understanding the need for some people to remain anonymous. Before he could continue, his phone rang. "Excuse me," he said as he placed the bags in the care of one other officers. "Ironpaw here. Sir? Yes, they're with me. Ok, I'll let them know, they might need a quick shower though. Yeah dumpster diving. Yes sir." He ended the call and turned back to Nick and Judy. "Captain wants you back at Precinct One ASAP."

"OK, we'll meet you…" Judy began but was interrupted.

"Not _us,_ Hopps. You and Wilde. Cheery and I can handle the rest from here. Besides it's only a couple of hours until your shift ends anyway. You two head to see him and we'll take care of the paperwork. Oh, and take a shower. Have a nice weekend you two."

"Uhm, Ok. Thanks sir," Judy responded. As their superior returned to the case, she turned to Nick who had a concerned look on his face. "Any ideas?"

"Not a clue Fluff."

"You didn't put anything in his coffee, did you?"

"I did that one time and I swear I'll never pull a prank on Vines again. I almost lost my hearing from the shouting" Nick replied, adding emphasis to a swirling a finger around his ear. "As it is, I swear I've got tinnitus from that."

"Guess we'll find out when we get there," Judy said and made her way to their car. She hopped in the driver's seat and started the engine as Nick jumped in and after buckling up, picked up the radio.

"Sierra-Oscar-Five to dispatch. Returning to Precinct One as requested. Be there in roughly twenty minutes," he advised.

"Dispatch to Sierra-Oscar-Five, thanks for the update Nick. Captain Vines and Chief Bogo told me to let you know they're expecting you in Vine office at the MCU in forty-five minutes so you have time to take a shower. What have you guys been doing?"

"Rooting around in trash for drugs and murder weapons. So yeah, the shower will be appreciated. Thanks Ben, Sierra-Oscar-Five out," Nick said and replaced the receiver.

"Did he say Vines _and_ Bogo?" Judy asked as she started the engine and exited their parking spot.

"Yep," Nick said casually.

"That's… interesting," she opined.

"Try 'worrying' Fluff," Nick countered. He racked his brain to think of why they'd been summoned, but couldn't think of anything. He hadn't pulled any pranks on his superiors in a good few months, as he wanted to leave a good impression and be fully accepted into the Major Crimes Unit, for the salary, but also for Judy.

"Still not going to confess to any pranks?" Judy said, but jokingly this time. She knew he hadn't pulled any, but Nick's habits of making jokes when nervous had rubbed off on her.

"You know me, if I had pulled any I'd be bragging about it by now."

"True enough," Judy said. "Bit I can't help being concerned. It's unusual to say the least."

The next few minutes of the drive were in semi-comfortable silence, as Nick mammal watched and Judy paid attention to the traffic. "Oh, Kate emailed me the other day," Judy said to fill the void and stop worrying about their impending meeting.

"Cool. How's she finding college life?"

"Stressful, so she was glad for the winter break" Judy chuckled, thinking back on the expletive laden message she'd gotten from her young friend. After helping with their first case as detectives over six months ago, Judy had repaid the favour by writing a letter of recommendation to the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, which got Kate a scholarship to Zootopian University's Criminology programme, a big step to becoming the next rabbit police officer. Since then Judy had helped where she could in between cases, or sometimes just hung out with Kate as friends. Some might comment that it was weird that she had a close friend almost a decade her junior, but considering her fiancé was 8 years her senior, it all balance out somehow. If your math was a bit wonky and you squinted.

"Well at her last job all she had to do was take her clothes off for money. Some would argue any type of work would be harder than that," Nick joked, remembering the strip joint that Kate worked at which was run by some of his old friends.

"There's a bit more to it than that dear," Judy admonished. "Or did you forget the sweat I worked up showing you the moves she taught me?"

"Oh, you know I would have been sweating if I had the glands babe," Nick said, and mock panted.

"I remember nearly slipping on the drool," Judy replied as she kept her eyes on the road and tried not to think too much about that night. "But I consider that a compliment," she added she made the final few turns towards Precinct One. "She just wants to get together this weekend for some drinks before she goes back to school next week. and ask some questions about being detectives. I'm sure she'd love your perspective too."

"Drinks with two hot bunny girls? Yeah I'm game!" Nick joked. Judy glared at the joke. "Jealousy? Seriously Fluff? You know you're the only mammal for me. I was kidding, meet up with your bunny, I'll just make plans with Finnick."

"I thought you said he had a bar job at the weekends?"

"Yeah _had_. He got fired a couple of weeks ago. Got caught short changing customers, the idiot," Nick said and sighed. His friend had been attempting to go straight like he had, but was finding it rough. Despite his looks, Finnick was almost a decade years older than Nick, and a lot more set in his ways. He'd gotten so used to hustling it came naturally to him. Mammals would give him a chance and he'd squander it, then bitch about not being given a fair shake. "Sorry Carrots, thought I told you."

"Poor guy," Judy responded.

"I wouldn't give him too much sympathy Fluff, he keeps doing this to himself after all. Not everyone has their own guardian bunny to keep them on the straight and narrow," he said, smiling at his future wife. "But… yeah actually a night out with a couple of friends might be a good idea from him. He's been down in the dumps lately."

 _And so are you_ Judy thought. Though he was good at keeping it hidden, Judy knew her mate was also becoming more despondent lately. Her cancer had had a resurgence after brief hope of remission and while Carmelita was currently doing ok, a recent hospital stay had made it all too clear that the vixen was having a tough battle. The doctors were still optimistic that she'd go fully into remission, but Nick was less convinced. He'd already lost his father to colon cancer, and he was worried another form of the disease would take his mother. Meanwhile, Carmelita had confided in Judy that she was worried about not being around for Nick and Judy's wedding. As it was only about six months away and the doctors had assured her that she had at least a couple of years left, that was becoming less and less of a worry. However, Judy had considered bringing the date forward. Nick had put his foot down for that though. Judy had a much bigger immediate family, and he wanted them all to be there for her, but trying to get 275 siblings ranging from children to adults, various cousins and aunts and uncles, and various other offshoots together was not an easy task. They'd gotten about an 80% RSVP rate for the date they selected, which was much higher than most rabbit weddings. Perhaps some were just interested in the novelty of her and Nick being together, but Nick wanted her family there. Admittedly she did as well, but Nick had to come first.

"Well if he plays his cards right, maybe he and Kate will hit it off and he'll get his own guardian bunny." Judy said, realising she'd been silent for a little too long and scrambling for something to say.

"Judy. Not only is Finnick not into rabbits, but he's also _twice her age._ "

"Ew yeah, got a bit carried away there didn't I?"

"Just a little," Nick replied as Judy turned in to the parking lot of the Precinct One. The pair parked and made their way up to the foyer. The precinct was as busy as ever, multiple mammals being booked for breaking the law. As they walked towards the desk they saw Clawhauser dealing with a particular irate zebra who had his hooves cuffed behind him as well as held by officer Delgato.

"Sir, please calm…" Clawhauser tried to say before being cut off by the striped perp.

"I HAVE MY RIGHTS YOU KNOW. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME."

"Sir you were caught assaulting your neighbour. I don't care if his hedge was over the property line you just can't…"

"I'M A VETERAN! I FOUGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET!?"

"Sir, being a veteran does not mean you can try and shave your neighbours' antlers off with hedge trimmers. Now Officer Delgato will take you to the holding cell where…"

"GET OFF ME!" the zebra shouted and stomped down on Delgato's foot hard, causing the lion to roar in pain and let go of his charge, who bolted for the door.

"WE GOT A RUNNER!" Clawhauser bellowed and every officer in the precinct turned to the Zebra, Judy started for him with Nick close behind, when suddenly a snarling ball of brown fur and spots hit the old guy in the midsection, bringing him to the floor.

"AND YOU CAN ADD ASSAULTING AN OFFICER TO THE CHARGES NOW ASSHOLE!" the brown she-wolf shouted, pushing the veteran's head to the floor.

"Damn right Bhrast!" the wolf's cheetah partner yipped, holding his legs. Within seconds the rest of the mammals in the precinct caught up and made sure the zebra stayed down until Francie ambled over and simply hoisted him in the air with her trunk.

"Good work guys," Delgato said, as he limped over to his fellow officers." Must be getting slow in my old age."

"Nah we're just that good," Bhrast Akela said dusting herself. The wolf and her cheetah partner, Kelsey Sabor, had joined Precinct One a few months ago. Despite being demoted to beat officer from Internal Affairs, she seemed to have taken to the role with gusto. Her experience was having a positive effect on her rookie partner too. She'd had a rocky start with Nick and Judy, having accused the former of killing one of his friends in what was actually a clear case of suicide. However, leaving IA and working through her issues had calmed her down significantly.

"Enjoying yourself there, Bhrast?" Judy said after the commotion had died down.

"Oh, hi Nick, Judy," Bhrast replied smiling. "Always fun taking down these assholes."

"Damn right!" Kelsey cheered.

"Get a new catchphrase Kels," Nick said, shaking his head. In the time he had known the rookie, she'd seemed to taken to using the phrase at every possible opportunity.

"Tell you what, get a better sense of fashion and I'll change up the phrases, deal?" Kelsey shot back, pointing at Nick's Hawaiian shirt under his trench coat. Suddenly her nose twitched and she held it. "Or maybe I need a worse sense of smell. The hell you guys been doing?"

"Dumpster diving," Nick answered. "Looking for weapons and drugs next to used diapers. The glamorous life of a detective awaits you both," Nick said in faux theatrics.

"Pfft, not for us," Kelsey said. "We love being out on the streets every day, ain't that right Bhrast?"

"What? Oh yeah sure," Bhrast responded, a faraway look in her eye.

"Anyway, I got paperwork to file before quitting time," Kelsey said. She threw a mock salute to Nick and Judy and started off. "Coming partner?" she said turning to Bhrast.

"Yeah I'll catch up in a sec ok Kels?" Bhrast said. Kelsey shrugged and sprinted off to the cubicles to finish her paperwork.

"Guess you still haven't told her?" Nick said, a slight frown on his features.

"No, I haven't," Bhrast replied sighing. "I love the kid but I really want to go in for the detective's exam. But she loves being on the streets too much to even consider it."

"Well you better tell her soon, you've only got a couple of weeks to sign up for the exam before having to wait for next years," Judy advised Bhrast. The wolf liked being on the streets but she went into Internal Affairs because she had a nose for sniffing out corruption. She didn't want to return there after being demoted, but that gift could be trained to make her a great detective. It was why Nick had suggested the idea to Bhrast when it seemed more and more likely they'd be leaving the regular detectives squad at Precinct One and hopefully moving on to the Major Crimes Unit soon. They'd need some new detectives to fill in the roles and he thought Bhrast would be a good candidate.

"I know, but God, she just loves being partners with me. I swear if I didn't know she was straight I'd think she was actually into me," Bhrast replied. Nick and Judy grimaced at that. They had been the ones who had told Bhrast to tell Kelsey her feelings, and it turned out that the cheetah didn't feel the same way. It had worked out though, as Kelsey had actually introduced Bhrast to her current girlfriend, Minhele, an African wolf, all those months ago.

"How is your girlfriend anyway?" Nick asked, seeming to steer the conversation away from the topic for now.

"Minhele's great thanks for asking."

"And what does she think you should do?" he replied, slamming it right back where it had come from.

"Well she thinks I should go for it, obviously."

"So, you and your girlfriend think you should go for it. Dunno about you but I'd say that's the only opinions that _really_ matter.," Nick advised.

"Yeah, I know, but I also dunno if I'll be cut out for it either."

Judy looked to Nick, and motion him down to her level. She quickly whispered an idea in to his ear, to which Nick agreed. "Nick and I are meeting some friends this weekend, one of which is studying to be a cop at ZU. She wanted to ask some questions about the detective role as well. Why don't you come along with Minhele and ask as well?"

"Hmm, you sure?" Bhrast asked. Despite getting much friendlier with the detectives in recent months, she was still reluctant to be overly friendly with the couple. Judy assumed it was due to still being ashamed of her first interactions with Nick, accusing him of being a dirty cop and trying to arrest him for murder. That's also why Judy checked if Nick would be ok with it as well before making the offer.

"Tell you what, first rounds on me. 8 pm at the Alpaca Comedy club tomorrow? They have an open mike night which is usually good fun and they have decent food," Nick offered.

After a few seconds, Bhrast nodded. "Ok, I'll see if Min's up for it but sounds like fun."

"Great!" Judy said, and swapped phone numbers with Bhrast, something they'd neglected to do before. As the beat officer made her way back to her partner, Judy noted the time. Thanks to the excitement of the attempted escapee, and their conversation with Bhrast there was only about fifteen minutes before they were supposed to meet Bogo and Vines. Nowhere near enough time to grab the shower they needed.

"Eh, I wouldn't be surprised if Fred, Angua and Vines would have still smell the garbage on us afterwards. I think we should just head up now and we can shower when we get home," Nick said.

"Yeah makes sense," Judy agreed though she hoped the smell wouldn't offend the canid and porcine detectives. They hadn't made any plans for tonight, what with getting together with friends tomorrow, so they could just spend a nice Friday evening at home.

That and they could share the shower without people commenting.

The pair made their way past their usual spot in the detective's office, greeting colleagues going about their business and explaining they'd been dumpster diving to everyone who asked about the smell. They turned towards the Major Crimes Unit offices, which had been installed especially after the new department had been announced some months ago. It had once been storage space for the archives which had been moved down to the basement, but had been modernised. This had made some of the detectives a little jealous, as the MCU had been given the newest office equipment, while the remaining regular detectives at Precinct One had to use what was already there. Oh, it did its job, but the MCU had all the comfortable chairs with all their wheels still.

Nick and Judy had spent about a third of the last six months between the two offices, handling their own cases at first, then acting as seconds for the detectives of the MCU. It would be worth it if they made it there though. As far as they knew they had roughly two weeks left before their 'not actually probation' probation period was up and hopefully they'd know if they'd been accepted or not, and get their last two months' salary back pay as well.

 _So, if we had this much time left on their probation, why are we being asked up now?_ Was the thought they both shared.

"Why are the blinds dawn and the lights off?" Nick asked as they approached the MCU offices. Usually the offices were fully visible behind glass walls, but not today.

"Should we knock?" Judy asked, wondering if the MCU had finished for the day. She checked the time, and saw that they should be there for another hour at least.

"Never have before," Nick answered, before reaching for the door. He pushed it open… and a smile appeared on his face. Judy's night vision not being the same as his, it took someone turning on the lights to reveal what he had seen.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" the cry came, causing Judy to jump. When her eyes adjusted to the scene, the entire MCU and Chief Bogo shouted, before the applause started. Just above the group was a banner that read "Welcome to Major Crimes WildeHopps!"

"Sorry Detectives," Captain Samuel Vines said though his smile seemed to show the sentiment was less than sincere. The old wolf approached them alongside Chief Bogo, who simply smiled down at them. "Think we gave our favourite rabbit a little fright Bogo."

"Probably the only time you'll see her scared even the slightest," the Chief chimed in. Judy looked around as they bantered seeing her friends from the Major Crimes Unit all smiling. Fred Porklon, and his partner Dobby Dobbs, Angua von Ubervolf and Sally von Fledermaus. She'd missed working with them regularly in the last few months. Suddenly the sounds of hoove-steps behind them caused Nick and Judy to turn to see the red haired bovine Carrot Ironpaw (who had been raised in a rabbit burrow) and his anoa partner Cheery Littlehorn jogging.

"Aww you got here before we did," the smaller bovine said, while carrot joined his girlfriend Angua. "Congratulations guys!"

"Thanks Cheery, but," Nick said turning to his superiors. "Chief, Captain, I thought we had still had a couple of weeks left on our 'not probation?'"

"You did, but considering the sterling work you've done on your own cases and as seconds to your colleagues here," he said gesturing to the we decided you had earned it," Bogo said. "Plus, we'll be looking to recruit some new detectives in a few months, so better get you settled in so you can be available to help when we get the next influx." He reached into his pocket and brought out two small shields. "Your new badges Detectives. Welcome to the MCU."

Judy and Nick both took their new badges gratefully. They were exactly the same as their current detective's shields, save for two things. One, they were slightly larger, and two, the reason for this is at the top instead of just stating Detective, it read MCU Detective, denoting the special status of its bearer. Those three simple letters meant that their jurisdiction now went to the entire city for the cases that required it. The MCU took the cases that needed special attention, extra care, or were downright weird. That also meant they were some of the toughest. Fred Pork's and Dobby's first case was tracking down a cub porn ring that had sprang up in the city. Nick remembered them asking for his and Judy's help cataloguing the evidence, and could see why the two had been seen going to the bar almost every night for the weeks as they worked it. They'd gotten the bastards though, and saved a couple of cubs from the ring, at least in the physical sense. Time would only tell if the brother and sister ocelots would speak again. Nick doubted it, as the things he had seen in the evidence had kept him and Judy awake for days, sometimes doing nothing but just holding each other. Judy had especially taken some of those cases hard… especially that young rabbit boy who they hadn't found in time. She had reminded her of her favourite nephew. Of course, when he was working on the streets he had heard some horror stories, but that was different to actually _seeing_ them.

"Thank you sir!" Judy said, brining Nick out of the funk and away from those dark thoughts.

"I wouldn't thank me just yet Hopps," Bogo said. "You know the type of cases you'll be dealing with on a regular basis," Bogo said. He too had some sleepless nights from some of the files he had to read.

"They can handle it," Vines said. Judy silently thanked him for that. The most experienced and now senior detective in the city vouching for them would help. "Besides, the type of detective who gets used to dealing with the crap we have to sift through isn't someone I'd like working for me."

"But enough of that for now," Bogo said, not wanting the conversation to turn dark. "Starting Monday, you'll be full members of the MCU. So you better go grab your stuff from the detectives area before you go home… _after_ you take a shower. Can't have you stinking up the office while you're here."

"Sir yes sir!" Judy and Nick said happily, rushing out together to grab a shower in the locker rooms. Their weekend get together was now a celebration.

* * *

Roxana Marlborough was _not_ one of the mammals who would have been surprised by the cold nights of the desert. As a college student who was studying to become an engineer at the city's climate wall, she wanted to make sure that the barren beauty was maintained. A lot of desert dwelling mammals did the same, and Roxana was something of a traditionalist. Her father was an engineer also, and so had been her grandmother. Not for her the role of doing something unexpected, she found solace in the familiar. Not to say she bemoaned those mammals who tried to do something different than expected, in fact her brother was currently training to be a _figure skater_ of all things, but for Roxana, she knew the desert was her calling. She loved its unspoilt beauty and calm nature, and while she had visited the place of her ancestor's birth and marvelled at the natural wonder of it, she wanted the artificial desert adjacent to the urban jungle (and literal jungle in the case of the Rainforest district) of Zootopia to be as pristine as possible.

It also helped that climate wall engineers were some of the best paid in the world, but that was benefit, not a reason. Another benefit was that a lot of her work would be spent in the field, checking the various parts of the desert on her own, with no one around for miles While not-anti-social, she always felt comfortable on in solitude, and she often went to the centre of the desert on simple camping trips, during her winter term time break especially as she'd be back to school next week. She found spending the nights in solitude was the perfect way for her to relax before returning to her stressful academic schedule. So she had spent the weekend sleeping under the stars, no tent, huddles dunes, blocking the artificial light from the rest of the city. And now she was up just before dawn, well rested and walking her way back to her home so she had plenty of time to get a decent breakfast before heading in to the city for her lessons. Walking a well-trodden, by her at least, route that she could traverse blindfolded between two large dunes

It came as a big surprise to her when her hoof caught something in the sand that she hadn't noticed, too busy gazing at her surroundings, which cause her to land face first in a nearby dune. She pulled herself up and made sure there was no damage to her ankle. She spent a few seconds dusting off her fluorescent exercise gear and then turned to see what had caused her to tumble, just as the morning sun crested.

Her scream echoed off the dunes when she recognised the dry, brittle, and slightly rotted flesh and fur of a large white paw sticking out from the sand.

* * *

Notes:

So here we go. Sequel to Zootopian Vice and and featuring organised crime. Let's see how this goes shall me.

Thank you to CombatEngineer and DrummerMax64 for the proofing and editing.


	2. The Big Problem

"Why'd you let him sleep here again?" Judy asked Nick, looking down at the fennec fox sprawled on the couple's couch. For such a small mammal, he sure snored like a herd of drunk elephants.

"You saw how he was last night. You wanted him to drive that van of his home in that state?" Nick retorted.

"Well obviously not," Judy said, frustration evident in her voice. It was Sunday morning and she was nursing a mild hangover, so she would have loved to sleep in. Being rudely woken up by a snore that could wake the dark gods and cause the apocalypse wasn't helping.

"Right! So, look, you go back to bed. I'll wake him up, get him some coffee and call him a Zuber back to the bar so he can go get his van when he's awake. Fair play?"

"Fine," Judy huffed, feeling it better to agree than have a fight. "But I'm gonna take a shower. I'm not going to be able to go to sleep again. Can you do me a coffee too?"

"And how about a turkey bacon and sausage sandwich with the special enzyme ketchup for your hangover as an apology?" Nick asked.

"Apology accepted," Judy said, though still with a hint of frustration. She gave Nick a quick peck on the cheek before making her way to the bathroom, taking her phone with her so she could listen to music. She closed the door, turned on some Guns n' Rodents while disrobing and thought back on last night.

She _tried_ to like Finnick, she really did! But Jesus, she just wished her fiancé's best friend wasn't so… abrasive. Best friend didn't really cover what Finnick was to Nick. He wasn't quite a father figure, considering their interactions. Brother, perhaps? Yeah, that seemed to fit. Finnick was like an older brother to Nick, but not the kind who was responsible or a role-model. No, he was the kind that taught by showing you what not to do. At least, that was how she saw it.

As she turned on the shower and waited for the temperature to get just right, she knew she shouldn't be so judgemental. Whatever her feelings, Nick saw Finnick as a good mammal who had it rough for far too long. And with the stuff, Nick had told about his time on the streets and the years after, Finnick had been instrumental in making sure Nick hadn't ended up dead. Plus, there was the time after the night howler fiasco that he had told her where to find Nick. If he hadn't done that... well, she wouldn't be where she was now, starting a new job at the Zootopian Major Crimes Unit with Nick as her partner and soon-to-be husband. So, she technically owed him more than she could ever repay.

But **GOD** , Finnick made it difficult to like him. She never wanted to say who Nick should be friends with, but Finnick was always taking him to some shady bar. While Nick was usually able to say when to stop, there was something about the way Finnick would goad him to drink more, to try and get him to play cards for money and hustle some drunks out of a few bucks… or try to take him to one of those big underground games. Gambling was illegal in the city, but it still happened, and usually, the police were too busy dealing with bigger crimes to bother with illegal gambling. Nick hadn't taken part in those since he'd started at the ZPD, but she was worried Finnick's influence would get him back into those old habits. Then she worried that meant she didn't trust Nick enough to not fall into those habits, which in turn made her feel bad for not trusting Nick's judgement in friends.

Anxiety was quite a bitch.

But last night hadn't helped her perception of Finnick either. Nick, Judy, Kate, Bhrast and Minhele were having a discussion about Nick and Judy's work as detectives and their recent promotion to the Major Crimes Unit when Finnick had shown up. Things started off cordially enough, but when he had caught up in the conversation and learned about their new salaries as MCU detectives, things turned sour fast. At first, it was just passive aggressive comments saying that Nick could afford to pay for his drinks and food, which he did. Judy wanted to say something, but she thought a little generosity might cheer up the small fox. But after a couple of hard drinks, he started grousing at the state of the world, how unfair it was for foxes. And while that was true, she couldn't help but cast her mind back to Nick telling her that Finnick was fired for short-changing customers. The way he had described it, Judy wasn't sure if he was doing it intentionally or not.

Then he had picked a fight with a rhino who spilt his drink. Though in fairness, it didn't help much when the rhino had asked Nick what the hell he was thinking bringing his son to a bar. It took Nick, Judy and Bhrast to drag the tiny ball of rage out of the bar, who then promptly staggered around and scratched his van up just trying to open the door. It was on the fourth attempt that Nick simply picked him up and carried him back to their apartment, dumping him on the couch. It had put a significant damper on the entire evening.

Still, with the shower revitalising her, Judy found her patience for Finnick returning. Nick was a good judge of character and wouldn't have stuck with his friend after going straight if he didn't think he was capable of the same. She turned off the shower, catching some water in her eyes as she did. With her music still playing, she stepped out, reaching for a towel to dry off and get her sight back.

She became concerned when a small paw passed her a towel, and even more so when the smell of faeces hit her nose.

Quickly clearing the water from her eyes, she saw Finnick flush the toilet he had just vacated. All while smiling. He gave her a quick look up and down, smiled, and said, "Nice."

Some females would have screamed at this point. Judy was not one of them.

Finnick went flying out of the bathroom, the door damn near breaking off its hinges and the fennec clutching his stomach. He scrambled up quickly though, just in time to get a hairdryer to the face.

"YOU PERVERTED FREAK!" Judy shouted as she came bounding out of the bathroom, clutching the towel to her body and aiming a punch at Finnick's muzzle. The fennec cringed, waiting for the blow, but it didn't come. He opened his eyes to see Nick picking up Judy who struggled, trying to get out of his grip while keeping her modesty intact.

"Judy, what the hell's happening here?" Nick asked while holding his fiancée at arm's length, not wanting to get kicked in the chest by the furious bunny.

"That sick bastard took a dump while I was in the shower then got a fucking eyeful!" she screamed, almost succeeding in getting out of Nick's arms.

"Hey, I said you looked nice! No need to give me the fucking stink-eye!" Finnick shouted back as if that made it ok.

"I'll give you a damn black one!" Judy screamed but then noticed that while Nick still held her aloft, his grip had gotten tighter. He placed her on the floor, then walked over to his friend.

"See, my mammal knows a compliment when he hears one!" Finnick said laughing. The laughter was cut off abruptly when Nick started growling. "Yo, what up, fox?" the smaller mammal asked.

Suddenly, Nick grabbed Finnick by the scruff of his shirt. Growling the entire way, he carried the smaller fox to the door of their apartment as Finnick twisted and swore in his grip. He opened the door and tossed Finnick out so hard he actually hit the opposite wall. Without saying a word, Nick slammed the door. A few seconds later, a pounding at the door came.

"Hey, yo fox! Mah wallet's in there!"

Nick glared around the apartment and spotted Finnick's wallet and van keys on the coffee table. He retrieved them, opened the door, threw them at his friend and slammed it again without saying a word.

"I'll, uh, catch you later, yeah?" Finnick said from the other side. After a tense pause, the sound of small paws walking away could be heard.

"Son of a bitch," Nick said, finally relaxing. He walked over and collapsed on the couch. "I'm so sorry about that, Judy."

"Hey, not your fault," Judy replied, walking over as she clutched the towel to her still dripping body.

"I thought he was still asleep, so I got distracted while making your breakfast. Urgh, never took him for a peeping tod… ok, that's a lie, but still!"

"It's ok. I'm just glad you're not making excuses for him," Judy said, sitting on the couch next to her mate.

"I think I might be done doing that." Nick sighed, shaking his head. Judy's heart jumped. Sure, she wasn't happy about what had just transpired and was furious with Finnick… but the way Nick said that, like he was losing a family member, was tugging at her heartstrings. Especially considering the current situation with his mother.

"Well… give it a little time then go and talk to him. As long as you make sure he never does that again…"

"Oh trust me, I won't be going anywhere…"

"While I appreciate the sentiment, Slick, maybe don't throw away... what? A fifteen-year friendship over one incident?" Judy asked, rubbing his arm.

"More business arrangement than friendship," Nick grumbled, but with a lighter tone. He sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I'll give it a couple of days so I don't have the urge to bite his face off."

"In all fairness, Nick, I'm fairly sure Finnick could kick your ass when he's sober," Judy joked. Maybe before the police academy that was the case, but she knew from personal experience how tough Nick could be when required… and flexible too. "Look, I don't like him that much, but he's your oldest friend. If I get an apology, I'll be fine."

"Maybe," Nick conceded, smiling. "Lemme get your breakfast finished, Fluff," he said, getting up and heading back to their kitchen. Judy thought about dropping the towel and inviting him into the shower, but her hangover headache put the kibosh on that idea.

A few minutes and one change of clothes later, she was feeling a hell of a lot better as she munched on the freshly cooked turkey sausage and bacon sandwich that was dripping with soy cheese and the special enzyme ketchup Nick had picked up from the speciality food shop. It used to be a mere food van, but word seemed to have gotten around that the owner, an omnivorous skunk, was able to let predators and prey try food they hadn't before. He'd been able to set up a full store that catered to all sorts of mammals who wanted to try something new. The stuff was expensive due to the special ingredients needed to let a tiger digest hay and so forth, but it did well enough.

Nick was having the same thing but without the ketchup, as it would upset his stomach since his digestive system was already set up to eat the meat. He was sitting contentedly on the couch, one arm wrapped around Judy as they ate. As they were making plans for the day that mainly involved slobbing around and getting over their hangovers, the sudden sound of both of their phones ringing at the same time caught them by surprise and caused a slight panic. The only other time this had happened was when one of Judy's brothers had been taken to hospital after being crushed by a tractor and her parents had been trying to get a hold of her. Thankfully, Bobby had managed to keep his leg, but it still dredged up unpleasant memories. They both checked their phones, and their guts sank as they saw who was calling… Precinct One.

Judy answered first, but sensing the need to do so, put her phone on speaker so Nick could hear as well. "Detectives Hopps and Wilde," she answered.

"Hopps, Wilde," Bogo's voice said over the phone. "Sorry to call you on a Sunday, but we have a developing situation at the MCU and we need you both in, now."

"Sir, it's our day off and we don't start at the MCU until Monday. Isn't it Carrot and Cheery's scheduled weekend in?" Judy asked. Due to the lack of mammal-power, one pair of detectives was scheduled in every weekend (with two days off during the week) just in case something came up that couldn't wait until the following week. With four pairs of detectives plus Vines, who tried to be available if needed, they usually had enough cover to manage any new cases that came up, which they rarely did. Mostly they used the time to work on their own cases.

"Yes but… look, Hopps. Frankly, you and Wilde have some contacts that make you more suited for the case. I'd rather not do this over the phone. Can you and Wilde get a taxi? The department will pay for it and you'll get double overtime for the day. Fair enough?"

Judy turned to Nick, who nodded. Six months ago, she would already be out the door on the way to the station, but their first case as detectives had exhausted her and her mate. So, she had eased back a little, taking the time they needed to recover and only doing the overtime if it was necessary for the case, and always with Nick's opinion on the matter. Him nodding confirmed that he had the same thought. If Bogo was calling them in on a Sunday, it must be serious.

"We'll be there soon, sir," she answered.

"Excellent. I'd recommend dressing for warm weather."

"Well the offer's nice and all, sir, but traditionally the unexpected tropical honeymoon is given after the wedding…"

"Shut up and just get here quickly, Wilde," Bogo said, ending the call.

Roughly twenty minutes and one short taxi ride later, Nick and Judy walked through the doors of Precinct One. Nick was dressed in his favourite silk shirt and light khakis, while Judy had opted for a simple black shirt and leggings. They made their way through the busy lobby of the precinct and up to Bogo's office. Judy knocked and pushed the door when a gruff "come in" was uttered, Nick following behind her.

However, they both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw who else was in the office. Captain Sam Vines of the MCU was as expected, standing to the side of Bogo and flicking through what looked like photographs. But, so was Lieutenant Bagheera, the top investigator of the ZPD's Internal Affairs department, who was sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the Chief's desk.

"You know, just once, I'd like to have a member of the ZPD be genuinely happy to see me when I turn up unexpectedly," the panther said, chuckling. Judy's and Nick's hearts stopped beating so fast, figuring if the IA officer was making jokes, it couldn't be as bad as they thought.

"You chose the job, Bagheera," Nick said jokingly, ushering Judy forward and shutting the door behind them.

"A fair point," Bagheera replied, smiling. Judy and Nick walked up and took the other large chair in front of the desk.

"Hopps, Wilde," Bogo said, nodding. "Thank you for coming in on your day off, and I'm sorry for cutting it short."

"Sir, what's this about?" Judy asked, wanting to get down to business. "May I also ask why Lieutenant Bagheera is here?"

"All in due time, Hopps," Bogo answered and gestured towards Captain Vines, who promptly held out a set of photos to Nick and Judy. Nick took them and held them up so Judy could also see, and they both elicited a short gasp at what the first photo showed. A horribly desiccated and naked polar bear, lying on his back and surrounded by sand. A lot of his fur had come off and seemed to be scattered around. The normal muscular build looked horribly atrophied, and the patches of visible skin looked dry. The face was especially damaged, the muzzle tight but opened at an odd angle, showing some of the teeth on its left side but covering the right. The eyes had shrivelled and sunk into the skull. The entire thing seemed like somebody had tried to stuff a skeleton meant for a large bear into a much smaller skin. The limbs were also set at odd angles, seemingly frozen in place as if the corpse was being raised into the air. It was also most definitely male, his genitalia shrivelled but visible.

"Just under three hours ago, the emergency line got a call from a witness who said she stumbled over an outstretched bear paw while walking in the desert of Sahara Square," Captain Vines said. "Officers and detectives from Precinct Twenty-Six were dispatched immediately, finding the paw. After setting a perimeter, they began to dig and found the victim. We're still trying to get a rough estimate on how long he's been there, but because of the small amount of decomposition that happens in a desert environment, it'll take longer than normal to work out."

Judy took the photo from Nick that showed the entire body. This was terrible, especially for a polar bear. One thing she had learned from Nick, who used to have many acquaintances from Tundratown, was that they preferred to be buried in the snow. He'd never been sure why; apparently, it was just some vague quasi-religious reason. But to be buried in the desert? That seemed… insulting?

"Sir, while tragic… I don't see what this has to do with Major Crimes. Wouldn't this death be under Precinct Twenty-Six's jurisdiction?" she asked, taking her eyes off the picture.

"Exactly right, under the normal circumstances," Vines answered. "But if you look at the photo that shows the John Doe's right foot…"

Nick obediently searched through the photos and held the one in question up so Judy could see it as well. It indeed showed the sole of the bear's foot. However, there was something off about it. She stared closer and saw what seemed to be a strange birthmark… but upon closer inspection, she recognised it as a highly stylised, bright white capital B.

"I don't understand sir?" Judy said when a gasp from Nick caused her to turn towards him. Her fiancé looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Perhaps Wilde can explain better," Bogo said.

"Judy, this is… well, I suppose 'gang tattoo' is a bit of an odd way to put it, but this is what it is. This polar bear," he paused before swallowing, "he's almost certainly one of Mr Big's enforcers."

Judy stared back at the photo and saw how stylised and intricate the tattoo was. For something so simple it was quite elegant, which matched the personality of the most feared mob boss in the city.

"What Wilde says is a bit of an assumption, but is most likely correct," Vines said, taking the photos from the pair and flicking through them again. "We obviously need to find out this guy's identity, but all the bears who work for Mr Big have this tattoo on their feet."

"So… that explains why this would go under MCU's jurisdiction," Judy said. The death of a known member of the mafia would definitely fall under their purview. "But why are Nick and me here… actually, don't tell me," she said, anger starting to fill her voice. "It's because Nick used to have an association with him before he joined the ZPD, isn't it? What? Does someone think Nick had something to do with this!?" she continued, rising in her chair to stare Bogo in the eye.

"Judy, calm down," Nick said, placing a paw on her shoulder. "I'm sure we can straighten this out."

"Your half-right, Hopps," Bogo said as Judy sat back down. "This has come to MCU because of the assumption that this bear is one of Mr Big's mammals. The detectives down in Tundratown have also said there have been rumours of some of Big's mob looking for one of their own but on the down low. There's been a marked difference in their usual routines. Nothing that confirms anything illegal, as per usual," Bogo huffed, hating the fact that Big was very good at covering his tracks. "But enough that the difference has been noted by others in the area."

"And the reason you brought Nick in?" Judy asked through gritted teeth.

"We actually brought you both in," Vines said, rolling his eyes. "And it's not for any accusations. We want you two to work this."

The answer caused Judy to hold back the insult she was about to unleash. They wanted her and Nick to investigate this death?

"May I ask why, sir?" Nick asked the question that had come to Judy a little late.

"Because of your previous history with the Big family. And by that, I mean both of you," Vines answered. That caused Nick and Judy to look at each other. They did not like where this was going.

"Wilde, we are all well aware of your previous association with the Big crime family," Bogo said. He raised a hoof to silence the protests that were to come from the partners. "Yes, we know you sometimes supplied them with information or sold items to them. Nothing illegal, but sketchy. We also know you have had no contact with them for at least a year prior to the night howler incident, and none at all since then. Internal Affairs checked, and rechecked, that when you joined the force."

"Yeah, you can thank Akela for that," Bagheera said, ending his silence. "Say what you want, but she did her homework when she was part of IA. Couldn't find anything illegal, and she would have if there was anything." Nick twitched a little at that. While he and Judy were friends with Akela now, he still held a little bit of resentment over his treatment by her while she was part of IA. He had forgiven her, but it still hurt a little, having been immediately suspected of foul play just because he was a fox.

"And then there's Hopps," Bogo said, turning to Judy. "I believe you are the godmother of Judy Big, Mr Big's grandchild?"

That was unexpected.

"Sir, Judy has not had contact with…"

"I didn't ask you, Wilde," Bogo interrupted. "Hopps?" he asked while turning away from her partner.

"Sir, Detective Wilde is correct," she said after swallowing. "Yes, I am the godmother of Judy Big, which was due to me saving the life of Fru Fru Big during my arrest of Duke Weaselton… and after you gave me 48 hours to solve a case the entire department hadn't solved in weeks or I would have had to resign," she added, loving the look of guilt that ran across the Chief's face.

"Yes… well, that was not professional of me in the slightest, and I believe I have apologised for that on numerous occasions. But that aside, you enlisted his help a second time after that, didn't you?"

Judy gulped as she turned to Bagheera, who motioned for her to continue. Oh well, it wasn't like Bogo didn't know.

"Yes, sir. As I told you when I rejoined the force after I resigned and became aware of the connection to the Midnicampum holicithias..."

"That's night howlers to those of us who didn't have an education in botany," Nick interjected.

"Yes Nick, thank you," Judy said, rolling her eyes at her mate. "When I learned of their connection to the savage predators I enlisted the help of Nick and Duke Weaselton. As Weaselton was uncooperative, I sought help from Mr Big... who persuaded him to tell us where Doug Ramses' lab was located by threatening his life. I was naive to believe he wouldn't go that far at the time."

"And you Detective Wilde? Were you that naive?" Bogo asked.

"I'd say more hopeful than naive, sir."

"So you can see where this leaves me. We have the murder of an assumed member of the largest crime family in the city. We have you two, where you both are in a unique position of having some insider knowledge and access to that family, which also puts you at a risk of corruption… SHUT IT!" he bellowed as both Nick and Judy went to protest. "I am not meaning to impugn your characters, but look at it from an outsider's point of view. How does it look?"

Judy and Nick looked at each other, but both saw a reflection of their own expression. Reluctant acceptance.

"It looks like a mess, sir," Nick answered. "Especially with that whole mess with Captain Higgins a few months back." That debacle had done real damage to the ZPD's integrity. Not only had a high-ranking member been guilty of selling drugs and murder, he'd also been one of Bogo's own subordinates at Precinct One. There had been questions and criticisms of Bogo's judgement in promoting his former sergeant to the captain of Precinct Ninety-Nine.

"Glad we agree on that, Detectives," Bogo replied. "Do you know the reason why neither of you was arrested or charged with anything after you told me what happened?"

"Yes sir," Judy said. "Duke Weaselton denied that the incident took place, along with Mr Big and three other of his… staff. That's what you told me when you invited me back to Precinct One."

"Indeed, Hopps. That was not the only consideration, however. You were put in a bind; the conspiracy of Dawn Bellwether's had everyone fooled, including me. So while I don't condone the actions you and Wilde took, I couldn't detain you. The issue never went to Internal Affairs since, at the time, you were not a police officer," he said, sitting back in his chair. "Now, with all that to consider, put yourself in my hooves at this time. We have a case potentially involving the biggest, and yet seemingly most untouchable crime boss in the city. We have two detectives who have some inroads with that same organisation, ideally placing them to investigate. Yet at the same time, the reasons for those inroads are… concerning. What would you do?"

Judy considered the question for some time. After that, she simply shrugged. "I have no idea, sir."

"Glad I wasn't the only one stumped when Captain Vines brought this case to me," Bogo replied. "And that's why Bagheera is here. Lieutenant?" Bogo indicated the panther.

"So, Hopps, Wilde, this is an unusual case even by MCU standards. This is why we're giving you the opportunity to turn it down. You, Wilde, have unique insight into the inner workings of the Big organisation while you, Hopps, have an unusual connection to his family. If you accept the case, you will submit all your files to me as part of an open Internal Affairs investigation."

"Does this mean you'll be following us around as well?" Nick asked.

"No. It would be impractical for many reasons. I can't imagine you'd be as effective as you are by dragging a glorified HR manager around," Bagheera said jokingly. "I will expect weekly updates on the case, in person and no later than your sign-off for the day, say, every Friday?" He sighed, shaking his head. "If I have any concerns, you will be removed from the case, and possibly the MCU, pending a full investigation and whatever the results of that may entail."

"Other than that, are we allowed to get on with our jobs?" Judy asked, unsure how she felt about this predicament.

"Of course. Look, Hopps, Wilde, we don't like this any more than you do," Captain Vines cut in. "But ever since Captain Higgins was caught killing mammals, the ZPD has been under intense scrutiny, especially Internal Affairs. Though honestly, if that hadn't happened then we'd probably be going down that route anyway. I hope you can appreciate the reasoning behind this. It in no way means we don't trust you, but this is a tricky situation, and we've been wrong about officers before."

"So, with all that said, what do you say, Detectives? You still want to take on this case?" Bogo asked, holding up a folder and taking the photos from Nick. He placed them in the folder and held it aloft, ready to withdraw it or hand it over.

"I'd like to do it," Nick said before Judy could think of a response. "I've got nothing to hide."

"We aren't accusing you or Hopps of anything, Wilde," Bagheera said soothingly.

"I know," Nick said with a warm, genuine smile. His time at the ZPD had shown that he was trusted, not dismissed as a stereotypical, shifty fox. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to use this to prove that again. He'd prove it as many times as people required it.

"I'm in if Nick's in," Judy said, placing a paw of support on her partner's arm.

"Are you both certain?" Bogo asked, in what seemed like one last chance to back out.

"We're sure," Nick and Judy answered together.

"Good," Bogo said, smiling, and held the file towards them. "Now get out there and find that killer."

With a quick glance and smile at each other, the partners took the folder and spoke as one.

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Notes:

Thanks again to DrummerMax64 and CombatEngineer for their sterling work. Also, trying to be better with my comma use.

Next chapter has been started might be a week or so though.


	3. Deserted

The drive through the desert region of Sahara Square was relatively short by real desert standards, but to Judy, who had no frame of reference for such terrain, it felt daunting. In actuality, the desert was roughly the same size as Downtown, but it FELT bigger. This was because almost a third of that was open desert, not closed in by buildings like her home region of the city. She was just glad that the air conditioning in her and Nick's unmarked police SUV was working. The sudden temperature shift from the chilly late winter/early spring weather of Downtown to the sweltering heat of the arid region was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Judy was also really regretting her choice in black clothing now, especially considering that like canids, rabbits didn't have sweat glands. Nick had made the right choice, his silk shirt eminently more breathable than her tight leggings and shirt. Still, he was panting in the heat despite the AC, but she wasn't going to be far behind that. He was reading through the file as she drove, bringing himself up to speed on the case, which she had done when he had insisted on returning to their apartment before heading to the crime scene. She still had no idea what was in the bag he had brought out, having focused more on getting them to the crime scene than playing conversational games with Nick.

She turned her attention back to driving, glad that the heat wasn't affecting her sense of direction. She had a few small, internal waves of panic about the car shutting down in the heat and being stranded in the desert, but she knew that was idiotic. For one, the car's GPS was guiding them exactly where they needed to go. Not that it was really needed, as she was simply following a track left by a small convoy of police vehicles that had been at the scene since that morning. And even if they had broken down, they'd just be picked up within the hour by the ZPD's automotive maintenance teams.

Judy slowed down as she crested a dune. She'd learned not to go up them too fast, lest there be a sheer drop at the top, a mistake a lot of people only made once. Luckily, her time partnered with various officers before Nick joined the force led them to share their experiences in such matters. Rhinowitz had told her about the time when he was a rookie, his partner had completely totalled a cruiser when he crested a dune at 60 mph, only to find a nearly 90-degree drop at the top. He'd only survived due to the sturdy construction of the vehicle…and the fact he landed on his zebra partner, who had spent the next six weeks in the hospital.

"I always hated coming to this part of the city," Nick said after they reached the bottom, knowing not to distract Judy while she was controlling the vehicle down the slope.

"And how often did you come here when hustling Pawpsicles, exactly?" Judy asked teasingly, checking the GPS, which showed them less than five minutes from arriving at their destination.

"Not that often. Amazingly, animals who are used to living in the desert are not overly fond of cold _desserts_. Kinda like how it's almost impossible to sell chilli peppers to a reindeer. Almost," he ended with a grin, recalling a time he had managed to do so. It wasn't that hard, the mammal in question was drunk and did it for a dare. It had won a bet he had with Finnick, however. He went back to reading the file.

"So...any idea who the dead bear is?" Judy asked. "I only ask because you claim to know everyone."

"Yeah, but most of Big's bears weren't desiccated from being buried in a desert. I don't think their own mother would recognise this guy. Plus he could have always been someone new."

"I guess. I'm not looking forward to telling Mr Big one of his employees is dead. Poor guy." Judy said, sighing slightly.

"Man and people think foxes are good at conning people," Nick said, chuckling.

"What's that supposed to mean? You don't think Big will care?"

"He might, I'm just admiring the work of a master con mammal. People get told he's a mob boss but end up liking him. I wish I had ten percent of his skill when I was working the streets."

"Well, he's nice…"

"Judy, he may be personable, but he is a mob boss. You don't get to be the head of a criminal empire by being _nice._ You do remember he tried to kill us the first time you met him, right?"

"Well, obviously."

"Yeah, that ice pool is not for show. I never saw it happen myself, but I heard of plenty of mammals who go into that office that didn't come out. I never asked questions, and that's how I survived. I wasn't stupid."

"I'm not either!" Judy retorted, hitting the gas pedal in frustration, causing the car to lurch forward.

"I never said you were!" Nick said, trying to backpedal. "And believe me, you're not the first person to fall for the act. Big's perfectly reasonable most of the time, but he's the boss of mammals a hundred times his size! You think he keeps them in line with health insurance?"

Judy went to argue the point but stopped herself. Nick had a point. Since the night howler incident, she and Nick had had no contact with Big or Fru Fru, so the majority of her memories of the old shrew were of a kindly father figure who had helped them in a bind. The fact that she had nearly been killed and Big had threatened Duke always seemed to be pushed to the back of her mind.

"Though admittedly, Big pays for all his guy's medical bills, so I guess that is like medical insurance?" Nick mused, snapping Judy out of her thoughts.

"Hmm, I think if slash _when_ we have to talk to Big during this case, you should do the talking," Judy said as she drove around a dune and saw a small group of various vehicles ahead, obviously the location of the body going by the police cruisers.

"Why's that?"

"You're the one who seems to have his head screwed on straight with what Mr Big is and the history to remember. Sorry for not getting it."

"Truth be told, when I said you weren't the first to fall for it, I meant myself."

"What got you to change his mind?" Judy asked as she was waved down by a giraffe in police uniform.

"The day I heard screaming coming from Big's office when it was only him and a muskox in there. And Big was not doing the screaming. Those guys are only slightly smaller than Bogo, Fluff."

A knock on the glass interrupted their conversation. Judy rolled her window down. "Sir, ma'am?" the giraffe said, a slight strain in his voice as he was bent down to the car's level. "I'm gonna have to ask you to turn around, we have an active crime scene..."

"Detectives Hopps and Wilde, MCU," Judy said, showing the badge around her neck.

"Oh, sorry Detectives!" the giraffe said, a look of shock on his face. "They didn't tell us who was coming and I didn't know you were part of the MCU."

"As of today we are," Judy said, smiling back. "No worries, Officer…?"

"Melman, ma'am, Ross Melman."

"Melman," she continued. "Could you show us to the scene?"

"Of course," the officer said and straightened out, waiting for Judy and Nick to leave the car.

"One sec, Officer," Nick said as he reached down and picked up the bag he had brought from their apartment. "Here, Carrots," he said, handing her a large straw and a pair of sunglasses.

"So that's why you insisted on us going home," Judy said as she placed the hat on her head. It would help a lot in the sun.

"Yup, since someone decided all black was great for the desert, I thought I better grab it."

"Thanks, Nick," Judy said, not bothering to ask why he hadn't gotten one for himself. Nick never wore a hat, ever. He'd rather freeze his ears off in Tundratown than don a wool beanie. He did bring out a pair of aviator sunglasses for himself though and exited the car, Judy following him. With everything ready, Officer Melman led the way past a group of cars, nodding to a lion that Judy and Nick didn't recognise, presumably his partner. After passing him, Nick spotted two people he wished they didn't have to deal with.

"Oh great, those guys," he grumbled. Judy turned at the words and Nick pointed his finger towards a plain black car. Stood next to it were a cougar, Detective Charles Hunter, and a horse, Detective Henry Coulton. Both were smoking, in the finest tradition of hard-boiled detective clichés.

"Oh, the joy of joys," Judy murmured. Months ago when they had first become detectives, Coulton and Hunter had shoved a dead hooker case into them, as it was related to their cases. A few days later, when it was revealed that the "hooker" was actually the niece of one of the richest mammals in Zootopia and a friend of Mayor Lionheart, they had tried to demand the case back, even taking their arguments to Captain Vines and Chief Bogo. They were refused, of course. Since then, they held an animosity towards Nick and Judy that bordered on the outwardly hostile. They very rarely crossed paths in the intervening months, but every single time had left a foul taste in Judy's mouth. At least Nick was better at hiding his frustration.

"Well, at least we can pull rank on them now if we have to," Nick said, smirking. While not technically true, MCU did sit outside the normal command structure, so they did enjoy some benefits because of that.

"Sirs, the MCU detectives are here," Melman said, catching Coulton and Hunter's attention. The pair turned to his voice, then to Nick and Judy.

"Aww, bullshit!" Hunter shouted, his cigarette dropping from his mouth.

"Careful Hunter, wouldn't want to say that 'round Bogo," Nick responded, putting on his best shit-eating grin, which he knew riled these two up to no end.

"Wilde, Hopps, what the hell are you doing here?" Coulton said, his partner too busy seething.

"Just what Officer Melman said, we're here in our roles as MCU detectives," Judy informed.

"Since when!?" Coulton said, exasperated.

"Friday, actually. Newly promoted," Nick answered. In response, he and Judy held up their badges. Coulton and Hunter both stared at the badges as if willing them to be fake.

"Sonuva…" Coulton began but was cut off.

"Ah ah ah! No derogatory language about canids, thank you," Nick said, wagging a finger at the horse.

"Listen you piece of…"

"Piece of what, Hunter?" Judy said as she held up her trusted carrot-shaped recorder. The item, despite not being the original, had become somewhat infamous in police circles. Always ready for an impromptu interview, or in most cases, embarrassing the hell out of colleagues.

The two larger mammals glanced at each other. They knew they would be in for a serious hiding if they fought with their fellow detectives on this. They didn't disbelieve them about being part of MCU, so Judy granted them some leeway.

"Listen, guys, we can do the whole macho 'Juris-MY-DICK-tion' crap like this, or we can get on with this and get out of each other's way. Deal?" Nick asked.

"Fine," Coulton answered, dropping his cigarette and stamping it into the sand. Technically a litter violation, but Judy couldn't be bothered fighting about it. "Bill should be just about finished. We called him in when we found the link with Big, knowing this would probably be an MCU deal."

"Thanks," Judy responded. Since dealing with a lot of murders, Major Crimes had found that they needed a dedicated forensics expert on sight to act as a Scene of the Crime officer, as well as other forensics. Since he was already multi-disciplined, Billy the goat from the coroner's office had been an ideal candidate and was offered the position. In addition, he had kept a good working relationship with his former colleague and had arranged for her to be assigned as the official liaison with the MCU and the coroner. The arrangement seemed to be working. Bo, always a bit standoffish, had become quite a bit friendlier with the detectives she helped. The pay raise for both of them probably helped too.

Coulton and Hunter led the partners past the small cordon of cars blocking the view of the crime scene. It was doubtful anyone would have come by here at this time, but then again, this was found by a random desert hiker. And without much ceremony, there the victim was.

The photographs had not really conveyed how… _odd_ the body looked. Judy and Nick had seen their fair share of bodies and in various states of decay, but everything about this one was so different to what they were used to. Although there was a myriad of ways a mammal could die, there were only so many ways the body could fall to the ground when dumped. Hell, sometimes the word _dumped_ wasn't a really appropriate description. A surprising number of murders were careful to bury their victims neatly. Arms at the side and all that. Here though? The arms and legs were all curled up, pointing at different angles. One of the arms had curled in such a way that it was pointing upwards, the paw curled into a claw. Presumably, this was the one the witness stumbled over as it was raised above the body.

Nick had also prepared himself for one of the many smells of death he had come to know, all of them unpleasant. From the wet, fetid rank of advanced decomposition to the odd smell of the evacuated bowels of a new corpse. But this? He couldn't describe it. There was a smell, of course, but the absence of the normal odours he'd come to expect from a body took centre stage in his nostrils. Judy, meanwhile, was also feeling a little off balance. Her rabbit hearing had itself become accustomed to the sound of insects buzzing around a corpse, but again, nothing. The absence of anything they were expecting despite seeing the pictures had stopped them both in their tracks.

"What's the matter, you two? Never seen a dead body before?" Hunter said, sniggering. "I hope the rest of the MCU doesn't react this way, or they'll never solve anything."

"I'll be sure to let Captain Vines know what you think of his staff," Nick said, smiling up at the larger predator. He glanced over at Bill, who was in the hole with the victim, taking very close-up pictures. Not wanting to interrupt his work, Nick turned to Coulton, who was at least trying to be civil, unlike his feline partner. "What can you tell us? We read the file, but wanna make sure we get everything."

"Nothing much to say really. The call came in at about 6 this morning. A young female was walking in the desert when she tripped over something, which turned out to be a bear paw, locked solidly into position. Officer Melman responded to the call, and then called it in after viewing the paw in question. We came out with forensics, who started digging away and found this big bastard. After discovering the Big tattoo, we informed the MCU, and well, that's about it. Bill has been working at it for a while but we don't got much else."

"Who's the mammal who discovered the body?" Judy asked, keeping an eye on Bill who seemed to be finishing up with his pictures.

"Roxana Marlborough. Camel. Engineer student at Zootopia University," Coulton said after taking out a small notebook. "She's at our precinct waiting to make her statement. We were going to head there to take it, but then the tattoo was discovered. We haven't managed to leave yet to go get her statement. Everything got a bit hectic after that."

"I'll bet. I guess we know where we're going after this, Carrots," Nick said.

"That means it's officially an MCU case now?" Hunter asked. "Cos if it is I could really do with getting out of this damn heat!"

"Not until we do our own inspection and say so, you know that. Sorry, Hunter, guess you'll have to suffer with us," Nick said, smiling up at the disgruntled predator, who swore under his breath. Coulton let out a huff as well, also suffering in the heat, but at least kept the rudeness to a death stare.

"Why don't you just wait in your car and crank up the AC until we give you the heads-up?" Judy suggested, taking a small amount of pity on the horse. He was pushing fifty and seemed to be suffering the most.

"Damn thing's broke," Hunter said.

"Here," Judy replied, tossing the keys to their own car. "Just don't touch the radio, I got the presets to all my favourite stations."

"You're far too kind, you know that?" Nick said as the larger mammals made their way to their car.

"No sense pissing them off if it doesn't do anything for us."

"Well, it gives me some of the best jollies I can get without taking your clothes off," Nick said, wagging his eyebrows.

"As my dad used to say, 'you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,' Nick."

"And how, may I ask, did catching flies figure into his day exactly? I thought he wanted to keep bugs away from the crops?" Nick asked, pulling the metaphor apart.

"You know what I mean, smartass," Judy replied, rolling her eyes.

"Are you two quite done with your lover's tiff? I had to come out here before taking my shower and I'm sweating like a priest in a playground! You do not want me to be standing here longer than I absolutely have to," Bill grunted as he tried to scramble out of the hole without disturbing the grave, something that was extremely difficult in the sand. After a few seconds, Nick and Judy reached out their paws and helped him out of the hole.

"Thanks," Billy said as he dusted himself off.

"No problem," Judy replied. "So, what can you tell us about the victim?"

"Honestly? Not a lot. It's a male polar bear and I don't think he's been shot or stabbed. That's about it."

"Really, Bill? That's all you can give us? We have a dead polar bear in the middle of a desert and you have nothing?" Nick asked. genuinely shocked. "Hey Carrots, maybe we should put in for a younger model of forensic pathologist. This one's getting old."

"Har har. Funny, Nick," Bill said, trying to hide his irritation. "The reason I can't tell you anything is that this desert has fucked the body something fierce. I have almost no composition to work with, which means I have no insects or larvae to give me a rough time estimate for how long he's been here. I don't have any entry wounds for blades or bullets either."

"What about bruising?" Judy asked, squatting down near the hole to get a better look at the corpse.

"Nothing obvious, because the damn heat has discoloured his skin all to hell. I could be looking at a bruise and not know it. Can't even tell if any of his bones are broken without opening him up as he's so sodding stiff nothing will move. Honestly? This big bastard could have been here for three weeks or three years. Until we get him to the lab and open him up, I can't even guess what he died of or his age. The skin has tightened so much we could be looking at a teenager or a grandparent. The only way I can tell he's even male is by his balls hanging out there, and even those have shrunk to the size of two raisins," Bill listed off, shaking more sand out of his wool.

"I hope for this guy's sake that wasn't a pre-existing condition," Nick said to himself, making a joke to deal with the morbidity. "How likely is it that we can identify him?"

"Well, pawprints are out because the skin on the pads is all dry. We may be able to identify him from the dental records if I can get his mouth open any further that is. That's gonna cause some damage to the mouth, but it can't be avoided."

"There must be easier ways to identify him. Isn't there someone at the morgue who knows about mammals who die in the desert?" Judy said.

"Hopps, the last time someone died in the desert was due to a heart attack, and they were definitely not left out here for months. Hell, I don't know if he even died here. Could have been killed and dumped, could just be a really weird polar bear who decided to streak in the desert."

"OK, we get the point Bill, thanks. Mind if we take a look?" Nick asked, turning towards Judy.

"Might as well, nothing else for me to do except getting the coroners ready to move him. Just shout when you're done," Billy said as he went to talk to a pair of coroner workers waiting beyond the cars.

"So, notice anything?" Nick asked, squatting down next to Judy.

"Not a damn thing," Judy replied, huffing. "This is gonna be a weird one regardless. How does a polar bear end up buried in the desert?"

"Beats me, though the extreme streaking idea Billy said is at least amusing," Nick said, looking at the corpse. He wasn't sure why. If Billy couldn't spot anything, what chance did they have?

Just as he thought that, however, he did notice something. He raised his sunglasses above his eyes and peered at the victim's left paw. While it was true the fur and skin had dried out, looking the same almost all over, he did notice a small circular indentation in the fur on the pinky finger.

"Uh oh," Nick said, causing Judy to turn.

"What? You spotted something?" she asked, excitement filling her voice.

"Maybe…" Nick ran a paw under his chin, trying to hide the fact that his heart had dropped into his stomach. If what he thought was right, this was going to mean trouble. He glanced up at the corpse's mouth. The skin had dried up around it, causing it to be mostly closed, but it was open just enough for what he needed to do. Without saying anything, he awkwardly climbed into the hole, taking out his phone. He fiddled with it for a second and activated the flashlight.

"Nick, what are you doing?" Judy asked, both horrified and awestruck as Nick positioned himself over the large predator's head.

"Playing a hunch, Fluff," he replied as he tried to position himself over the head without touching the corpse. He had to twist a little awkwardly, but he managed it. He shone the light into the small opening.

"Aw shit," he said after a few seconds.

"What is it, Nick?" Judy asked, practically hopping in excitement.

"Help me out of here first, will ya?" Nick replied and reached for Judy, who took the outstretched paw. After a few second of dusting off, Nick composed himself. "I think I might know who this is, Fluff."

"Really? How?"

"That bear has two gold teeth behind his left fang. And unless you know any other polar bears that work for Mr Big with those two exact teeth replaced, I think this is Kevin…"

"Kevin? Who's Kevin?"

"Remember those two bears that grabbed us out of the limo we broke into during the night howler case? THAT Kevin."

"Jesus, really?" Judy asked, turning back to the corpse.

"Which is going to be bad news for whoever did this…if Raymond catches them, anyway. He was the other bear, by the way."

"Why's that?"

"Because Kevin was Ray's twin brother. The last time someone fucked with them, Big ran out of room in his ice pit. Shit…" Nick muttered, rubbing his scalp. "This is bad, Fluff, really bad."

"Nick, how bad are we talking here?" Judy asked, concern in her voice.

"Bad enough that I'm regretting not taking out a life insurance policy. The last time someone told Raymond bad news, they ended up with two broken kneecaps and a gouged-out eye."

"Wow, that must have been some bad news."

"I don't know. I mean, all the poor pizza guy did was forget the drinks."

* * *

Notes:

Late because of continuing hospital visits. Always fun. Thanks to DrummerMax64 and CombatEngineer for the proofing, edits and feedback.


	4. Breaking, Entering, more Breaking

"Thank you, Roxana. If you think of anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me or Detective Hopps," Nick said, handing over a card to the young camel as they stood in the foyer of Precinct Twenty-Six. He then turned to the older male camel at her side. "Mr Marlborough, I'd call her college and let them know she may need a day or two. Feel free to give them the number on the card if they need anything confirmed. Here's the witness counselling number as well," he added, handing him a small pamphlet.

"Thank you, Detective," the girl's father said. He'd come down to be with his daughter after she had come to the station. Like any good parent in this situation, he was concerned for his daughter's well-being and had started to grow agitated when informed he couldn't be present at the interview. Though not strictly true, Nick and Judy felt better if an overbearing parent wasn't hovering over his child, especially considering the child in question was nineteen and a legal adult. Nick felt sorry for what Roxana had been forced to see, but it looked like her family would be able to provide any support she needed if her father was anything to judge by.

Nick nodded in response and then turned back to Roxana. "I'm hoping it won't come to this, but we may need to get in touch to check details of your statement. We have your information, but would you be OK with that?" he asked. He always found it good to be pleasant with witnesses whenever possible. It made it easier to get back in contact with them.

"Of course! Anything to help the family of that poor mammal," Roxana said. The statement confirmed Nick's assessment of the family situation. If the first thought was for Kevin's family, it revealed where her priorities were. Nick mused on that as he walked back to the interview room, which he and Judy had commandeered for their interview and were using as a makeshift office during the last few hours they had spent at Precinct Twenty-Six. Nick never had the most stable family life. _Dad died when I was a kid, mother a prostitute who did her damned best to make it stable, including having her pimp babysit me. Gosh, when you describe it like that, I'm surprised I'm not more screwed up than I am_ , Nick mused as he headed to the doors at the foyer's rear.

His thoughts turned to his mother at that point, and he sighed. He had to go visit her soon. He loved his mother, but it was getting harder to go see her. The doctors were optimistic, but they weren't around her as much as he was…and he could tell she was getting weaker. He was pretty sure he'd have no family left soon.

 _Well, that's not true. You'll have Judy. And I guess Finnick too._

The thought of them both perked him up a bit until he remembered his fight with Finnick earlier that morning. Distracted as he was, it was little wonder that he walked straight into the flank of another mammal.

"Jesus, Wilde. If you want to cop a feel my shift finishes in an hour. Bring money…a lot of money," the gruff tones of Detective Coulton told him as he picked himself up off the floor.

"In your dreams, Coulton. Besides, I'm spoken for," Nick countered. He started to put on his most shit-eating grin, but when he noticed Hunter wasn't hanging around his partner, Nick decided he couldn't be bothered. Of the two, Coulton was a lot easier to deal with. Something about his younger partner always seemed to bring a little extra bitterness from the horse, but he was generally tolerable on his own. "Where's your slightly lesser half?" Nick asked, noticing Hunter's absence.

"Hunter had to head out early," Coulton answered.

"Why?"

"Some family thing, I dunno. He didn't exactly give me a newsletter. That leaves me to finish all our paperwork. I'm just heading out for a smoke break when you walked into my butt."

"Is everything OK with him?" Nick asked, his thoughts turning back to his own family troubles.

"I dunno and I don't wanna know. We're partners, but we don't unload shit on each other. Not every partnership gets as close as you and Hopps do."

"Well, what can I say? She fell for the old Wilde charm."

"Fell for something alright…" mumbled Coulton.

"The fuck did you just say?" Nick snarled. And it was a proper snarl; his fangs were showing as his lips curled away. Few things triggered him, but anyone suggesting his feelings for Judy were less than genuine was a surefire way to get his hackles up.

"Hey, whatever thing you doing to that bunny ain't none of my business," Coulton said dismissively.

Nick forced himself to calm down, adding Coulton to his mental list of mammals not worth his time and to avoid where possible. Remembering a few facts about the horse, however, brought a smile to Nick's face.

"You're married, right Coulton?" he asked innocently.

"Was. Gave up on it after the third one," the horse answered, shrugging as he did so.

"Well then, that just means I can ignore your advice or observations about relationships and marvel at the mastery of which you must fuck them up. Toodles!" Nick said, his smug grin returning to his features as he walked past the now angry horse.

"Why you miserable piece of…" Nick heard before walking through a door that muffled whatever expletive was thrown his way. He also chided himself a little. He prided himself on not letting mammals get to him, and the few that tended to do so were either because he'd known them for a long time or were...well, Judy. But people commenting on him not being right for her, or some other reason that they shouldn't be a couple? It just drove him up the wall. Especially because he _knew_ he wasn't good enough for Judy himself anyway. Hell, he'd voiced that thought to Judy many times, only to be reminded of her unlimited compassion by saying that wasn't his choice to make for her. Then she would usually snuggle up with him on the couch to watch a movie, give him a long kiss, or in some cases, simply screw his brains out.

He had to admit, it worked better than the anti-depressants he was sometimes prescribed.

His anger at Coulton dissipated somewhat when he entered the interview room and saw Judy sitting on the table where he had left her, flicking through a notebook. The large table made her look a little like a child, but it was something both she and Nick had to deal with sometimes. Despite progress being made, they were still usually the smallest mammals in the room in any ZPD precinct, and the furniture reflected that. Often, they found themselves questioning suspects while walking back and forth across the table, which on one paw made it seem like they were questioning them like a lawyer pacing back and forth across the courtroom, lending a little gravitas to the situation.

On the other paw, it also looked completely ridiculous when interviewing a suspect ten times your size. At least Nick suspected it did when he was the interrogator. Judy seemed to have this air of authority about her that she carried despite her diminutive size.

On the _other_ -other paw, maybe he just thought that because he was whipped.

"Everything OK?" Judy asked as she looked up from her notes, concerned by her partner's uncharacteristic silence.

"Eh, just Coulton being a dick. Nothing new," Nick answered, giving a half-truth. He didn't want to burden her with the issues with his mom and Finnick.

"And?" Judy prodded, not believing him for a second.

Nick sighed, wondering why he even bothered to try and hide stuff from her, even if it wasn't anything worth hiding. Logically, he knew it made him feel worse, it frustrated her, and she always got the answer anyway. _Guess old hustler habits die hard,_ he thought.

"Mom and Finnick," he said simply and hated the concerned look she gave him. However, when she motioned him over to the overly large chair, he did so and was rewarded by a quick hug and chaste kiss.

"I won't ask you to talk now, but let me know when you want to, OK?" she asked. And with that simple act, he felt immensely better and felt a smile spread across his features. "What did Coulton say anyway?" she continued, steering the conversation to less personal ground.

"Oh, just insinuated I didn't love you. But I told him I wasn't taking relationship advice from a guy who has 90% of his salary go to alimony," Nick said, smiling.

"Remind me to drop-kick him in the gut next time I see him," Judy said in a tone that suggested to Nick she was deadly serious.

"So, what have we got so far?" Nick asked, joining Judy on the table and sitting next to her, glancing at her notebook. He had his own as well, but he had done most of the talking while Judy had written what was being said during the interview. It was also recorded so he wouldn't be missing anything and could refer back to it at any point, but it was good to discuss things as often as possible in a case so it all stuck in the mind.

"Barely anything. A camel found a mummified polar bear. Most we have to go on is your preliminary identification, but we can't really do anything with that until the coroners confirm the identity. Unless you want to risk telling Raymond his brother is dead and being completely wrong about it?"

"Yeah, no thanks," Nick replied, trying not to imagine what he'd look like as a small pool of viscera and grease in Mr Big's office. "I guess we could go see if we can get traffic cams for the desert?"

"Wait, the desert has traffic cameras?" Judy asked. She was pretty sure she would have noticed something like that in the sands.

"Well...no," Nick admitted. "There's about a dozen places where the roads head into the desert and they have traffic cams. Not many vehicles drive into the desert in comparison to the rest of the city, so it wouldn't be that arduous."

"Except that we don't even have a rough time of death yet. Billy said the desert had, and I quote, 'fucked the body something fierce.' Remember? The guy could have been killed two weeks ago, or two years."

"I think we would have known if one of Big's enforcers had been dead for two years," Nick replied.

"You know what I mean," Judy said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I get it. Maybe we could talk to some contacts, see if anyone we know has heard anything? Maybe Duke Weaselton? Sandra? Hell, maybe put in a call to some of the Tundratown precincts?"

"Maybe Finnick would know?" Judy asked, and the expression on Nick's face made her regret the suggestion a little. "Nick…"

"He went all Peeping Tom on you, Judy! And don't tell me he didn't know you were in the shower. The water was very audible and I was in the kitchen. He would have seen me as soon as he woke up from the couch!"

"He was also hungover," Judy pointed out.

"You kicked him through the door for perving on you! Why are you defending him now?" Nick asked agitatedly.

"Hey, I don't want to fight about this," Judy replied, raising her paws, exasperation in her voice. "I'm not defending what he did. But I've had some time to think about it, and I admit it could have been an honest mistake. We should at least give him a chance to explain himself."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Nick said, crossing his arms in a huff.

"Nope!" Judy said, smiling brightly.

"Fine!" Nick said after a few seconds of silence. "But can we at least wait a day or two before talking to him if we avoid it? I wanna feel angry for a bit. Even if it was an accident, he still took his sweet time getting a good look at you."

"Fair enough," Judy said. Nick wasn't completely unjustified in his anger, so if he needed to feel it for a bit, she'd let him. She looked back at her notes and sighed. She handed them to Nick, who read through them as well. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah, not much to go on at the moment I guess. Still means we can head home early after reporting to Vines and Bogo," Nick said. He checked the time on the clock in the interview room, noting it had only just gone past 2 pm.

Judy nodded and hopped off the table, followed by Nick climbing down. As they made their way to the door, a vibration in her pocket alerted Judy to her phone. She withdrew it and saw it was Billy the forensic pathologist calling her. She answered the call and placed it on speaker. "Hopps here, what's up, Bill?" she asked.

"Hey Judy, I got a preliminary report from the autopsy for you," Bill said. Something in the way he was talking seemed off. He sounded unsure. Judy turned to Nick, who looked intrigued as well.

"Everything OK, Bill?" she asked.

"Honestly? I'm not sure. Something about this does not add up."

"Just let us know what you can, Bill," Judy asked, starting to get impatient.

"Very well, but I wouldn't put it past you to call bullshit on this. I know I would." The goat paused and took in a breath. "So we rushed the autopsy to try and see what we could of any organs, and well…quite frankly, if I'm reading the injuries and broken bones right, this polar bear was beaten to death by a mammal that was, at most, half his size. Possibly less.

"What's so crazy about that?" Nick asked, perplexed. "You can kill an elephant with a crowbar in the right place."

"No, you misunderstand…they were beaten to death with bare paws."

"Come again?" Judy asked. "You mean you found claws marks, right?"

"Did I say claw marks?" Billy said, frustration entering his voice. "No. I said paws. As in it was all blunt force trauma, on the outside anyway. The main cause of death was what I first thought was a hammer blow to the skull, but the impact radius is all wrong. My guess? It was a fist."

"Wait a minute. You're saying a mammal less than half the size of a polar bear beat one to death and didn't use anything but their own strength?" Nick asked incredulously. "That's…"

"Hard to believe?" Bill interrupted. "Don't know it. But the impact radii of several bruises and broken bones seem to confirm it. I'm gonna be checking them over and maybe get a second opinion, but I don't know what else it could be."

"Christ," Judy said, almost disbelieving. She didn't question Billy's analysis, but it was still hard to believe.

"Oh, it gets worse," Billy said, getting her attention again. "Those weren't the only injuries. I found several scratches from smaller mammals and knives. Several were around various major arteries. If he hadn't died from the blunt force trauma, he would definitely have bled to death…if it wasn't for one other thing.

"What's that?" Judy asked, morbidly intrigued.

"If the bleeding and the blunt force trauma didn't kill him, several incisions on his lungs _would_ have done it. But that doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean? If he was punched as hard as you say he was, surely there would be damage to his organs," Judy pointed out.

"Yes, and there was, but I said these were incisions. As in cuts. Very reminiscent of scalpel cuts actually.

"So someone operated on him at the same time he died?"

"Nope. There were no incision marks on the outside of his body All these cuts were on the _inside_ of his lungs. It's like someone was tunnelling from the inside out. His throat has several cuts as well, akin to swallowing something sharp. But after that, it doesn't make sense. The cuts don't go down to the stomach."

"Could he have breathed something in?"

"Not without choking, and even then, the incisions are too clean. Like I said, it's like someone took a scalpel to the inside of his throat and lungs."

"Jesus," Nick said. "That must have hurt."

"Oh yes, I can imagine few worse pains. I'm still working on how long he's been dead for, but I'll try and get it back to you soon along with the full report."

"Thanks, Bill," Judy said as the call ended. "OK, realistically, what animals could beat a polar bear to death?"

"Elephant, rhino, and hippo. Maybe a buffalo, bison, or horse if they're particularly strong," Nick answered, scratching his chin. "But he said it was a mammal half Kevin's size, which seems impossible. And what about those incision marks in the throat and the claw and knife marks? Was he tortured? What kind of mammal, or mammals, would do that?" A small note of revulsion entered his voice at the last question.

"Someone I would not like to get on the wrong side of," Judy answered.

* * *

Luther Hill yawned after he set another crate of booze down behind the bar. As he did so, he looked around the club he led the security for. The Inferno strip club never usually had anyone in it at dusk since it wouldn't be open for another four hours, and most mammals employed there usually turned up about an hour beforehand. But he had other personal matters to attend to tonight and had asked his friend Harry, who was also the owner if he could have a couple of nights off. Harry happily agreed, but to make it up to him, Luther decided to come in a few hours early and get things ready for when the club opened. It also gave him a chance to make sure that the backup security measures were in place.

Six months ago, the club had been the scene of a firefight between the ZPD and a wanted criminal. One of the weapons used in that fight had, in fact, belonged to the club, a pump-action shotgun that Luther kept in a safe under the bar. Since then, he'd also placed a pistol in the safe. Nothing fancy, a simple Glock 19. Both weapons were made for medium-sized mammals, such as badgers like himself. He smoothed down his trademark red-dyed head-fur as he checked the weapons. Both were loaded of course, and there were two full refills of ammo for each. They were both easy to use and could be accessed by only a handful of mammals in the club, mainly the bar staff plus one or two of the waitresses who had proven to be the most sensible.

Personally, Luther would have preferred an SA80, the rifle he used while in the British army. Simply due to familiarity, though assault rifles were illegal to buy and own in Zootopia. These would suffice though and, in all honesty, the only use they ever saw was when he occasionally tested them. The weapons made him reminisce of his time in the military, something his dad had been proud of. He'd never made it past the private rank though. Dad had sent him there to get a little respect for authority, which didn't work. He had little time for anyone ranked above corporal and one or two of his sergeants. He'd barely made it the four years minimum, and after that? Well, Dad didn't like the fact he'd not done much there, but he respected Luther for trying. It had certainly cooled things between them, so at least when the colonel died of a massive heart attack a couple of years later, they were at least a happier family than before.

 _I wonder what he'd think of me now. Dirty old bastard probably would want a discount on the drinks,_ Luther thought, and then laughed internally. The thoughts of his family made him check the time. Yeah, the flight would be landing in a few hours. Plenty of time to grab a bite to eat beforehand. He grabbed his keys and went to head out, leaving a few scribbled notes for the bar staff and Harry who usually got in before anyone else. He made his way out of the bar proper and into the entrance hallway, closing the first of two doors that led into the club. As he approached the locked main door a loud series of bangs made it shudder violently in its frame. The thing was massive, with a solid wooden structure and complemented by metal coverings. Meaning even a charging rhino should have at to give it at least a couple of goes before denting it, so the pounding caught Luther by surprise. After a few seconds of listening, he realised it was someone knocking on the damn door!

Composing himself, he clambered up the steps he kept on the side of the door that allowed him to open a fairly large panel to see anyone in front of the door. He slid it open and glanced around, seeing no one. Until he glanced down, anyway.

At the very foot of the door, a small mammal stood. Although he couldn't see the face, he could see hints of red fur, though not that of a fox. He also saw a fairly long and bushy tail, the same red fur there, but also some dark red, making a series of rings. Spattered between the red were hints of grey fur, though that was mainly due to age. The mammal also seemed to be wearing some sort of robe.

"The fuck you want, old mammal?" Luther barked, but at the same time wondering how the hell the mammal smaller than he was had managed to cause the door to rock like that. The mammal in question looked up and Luther saw his face, recognising it as one of a red panda. The old man comment had been right on the money as well; a long, thin and white moustache drooped down from the muzzle.

"Ah, young man. Would you kindly let me in? I wish to discuss a business deal with your boss." the mammal inquired. The deep voice was at odds with the vaguely Asian undertones his appearance gave.

"Boss ain't here," Luther replied. Normally at this point, he would have closed the hatch and walked off, but something seemed off about this mammal. "Come back when we open, or better yet, use a damn phone!"

"Ah, you see, I prefer to conduct my business in person. Let an old man have his funny ways."

"Doesn't change the fact he ain't here. Now bugger off," Luther ordered, and he did start to shut the hatch this time. However, as soon as he moved, the red panda spoke again.

"Hey," he said with an air of authority that somehow stopped Luther in his tracks. "It is wise to respect one's elders, young one," he said softly, with a hint of menace.

"Don't see nothing to respect," Luther replied simply and slammed the hatch shut. _Fuck this, I'll give him a few minutes to leave._ Normally, if someone had been that mouthy to him, he'd open the door and give them at least a black eye. But something at the back of his mind made him think that it wasn't wise in this particular instance.

Suddenly, the door rocked with a massive bang, much louder than before. So loud in fact that it caused Luther to stumble off the steps and land awkwardly, twisting his ankle. He yelped in pain but looked up in time to see the door shudder again. Something either massive or solid had slammed into it a second time. And by the looks of it, the door was going to lose this fight.

 _The fuck is that? Did the old bastard bring a battering ram!?_ Luther thought, scrambling up as whatever it was hit the door a third time. And this time, he saw the hinges beginning to come out of the walls. Limping like mad, he made it to the second door of the hallway when he heard a fourth hit, the breaking of concrete, and a very large metal object hitting the floor. He opened the second door, built similarly to the first, and ran inside. He turned around to close it. As he did, he finally saw what had caused the door to collapse.

The biggest, most heavily built giant panda he had ever seen.

Luther couldn't stop himself from keeping the door open a little longer as he watched. The panda glanced down at his hand, which seemed to be dripping with blood. Apparently, he had _punched_ the door down. If his hand was causing him pain, he wasn't showing it, as he simply waved the excess blood off. He was dressed simply, a pair of red shorts and an open red vest that did nothing to hide his exceptional muscles.

Then the red panda came into view. He was followed by another mammal similar in size, a mongoose who wore a green shirt, trousers, and a flower in her hair. She was harder to see than the panda, but Luther recognised that she was also very muscular. Perched on her shoulder was a rat who seemed to be holding two knives, dressed similarly to the mongoose. The light from the door lessened somewhat as an almost equally massive tigress took up station next to the panda, wearing an outfit like his, but with black trousers. Another mammal walked in a snow leopard with a face that looked like it had taken one too many punches. He was wearing a purple shirt that matched his trousers. Finally, the sound of leather filled the hall as a massive fruit bat swooped in and landed on the shoulder of the leopard, dressed in white and wearing the type of hat Luther had only seen in old kung fu movies. A momentary glint of light caught his eye, and he saw the bat had metal claws...no he had some sort of knives attached to his feet, sharper than any natural claw. In fact, now that he looked, he noticed that some of the other mammals were armed too. The mongoose seemed to have a long bicycle chain, while the rat wielded two knives. The leopard and tigress didn't seem to have anything, but from here, Luther could see that their claws were freakishly sharp.

The only one who didn't seem to have any weapons or have sharpened claws was the panda. Considering what he had done to the door, he probably didn't need them.

With a voice and expression of sheer contempt, the panda spoke. "Perhaps you would like to discuss business now?"

* * *

Notes:

Actually rewrote this chapter completely as the original one gave me a story that was going nowhere, introduced and did away with a character who deserves more development than I gave her, and was pretty much drama for drama's sake. Glad I got rid of it.

Thanks to DrummerMax64 and CombatEngineer once again. Life savers.

Also for those who care, my wife is FINALLY getting the surgery she needs to be pain free. ONLY TOOK TWO YEARS. You can thank the UK Conservative party for fucking up the NHS along with pretty much everything else in this country for the last decade. Oh and UKIP. Bastards.


	5. Breaking Badger

Monday came and went with little surprise, and Nick and Judy had no more clues to look over on their case. Billy was still working on the autopsy of the bear they assumed was Kevin, but he still hadn't been positively identified. In theory, they could go to his brother Raymond to get a positive ID, but the corpse had been so radically changed by the desert environment there was no way to be 100% sure. The best lead they had was Nick's identification with the gold teeth, and even if Nick was sure it was Kevin, they had to wait for the identification via dental records.

This meant that when they officially started at their new jobs, they ended up continuing to help the rest of the MCU with their cases while they waited on the dental records and the completed autopsy report. Currently, that meant helping Detective Sergeant Angua Von Uberwolf and her partner Detective Salacia 'Sally' von Fledermaus piece together a large bucket of shredded documents for a RICO case they were building against a crooked accountancy firm in Downtown. This was, without a doubt, one of the dullest ways for a detective to spend their time, a fact that Nick had no issue being vocal about.

"Lifeforce draining. Judy. Remember me…" he trailed off before slamming his head to the desk.

"Watch it, Wilde!" Angua shouted as parts of the sheet she was working on jumped slightly, almost causing the near complete sheet to become muddled again.

"Sorry Sarge," Nick said, raising his head just enough to not be muffled before returning it back to the desk.

"Nick, I know it's boring, but please take this seriously," Judy chided. To try and make the task more palatable, she had tried picturing it like one of the huge jigsaws she and her siblings used to do sometimes when she was a kid on rainy days and the video games were already being used. It wasn't her preferred activity, but it killed some time. "You don't see Angua or Sally acting…"

"Just kill me now!" a screech from the bat detective interrupted Judy's lecture. Sally also slammed her head to the desk, an act she repeated three more times.

"Never mind, "Judy sighed and looked over to her wolf sergeant.

"Don't look at me, Hopps, I'm not marrying my grown-up pup," Angua said, returning to her work.

"You should be so lucky," Sally said, waving her wing in the air in a sarcastic manner. However, the gust created by her wing proceeded to blow some of the shredded papers around the table. Unfortunately, this included Angua's near-complete work.

"GODDAMMIT!" Angua howled and then joined Nick and Sally in slamming her head to the desk. Her much larger size caused even more movement of paper, and Judy whined as her own work was wiped out. Seeing no other alternative, she joined her mate and colleagues by placing her own head down.

A few minutes later, a cough made all four mammals turn their heads to the source, and then sit bolt upright as Captain Vines stood glaring at them. "I'm not in the habit of paying my detectives to nap," the elder wolf said.

"Sorry sir, my fault," Angua apologized, taking responsibility as the senior officer.

Captain Vines continued glaring at the assembled mammals, then let out a small smile. "At ease, Detectives," he said, the group letting out a collective sigh of relief. "I'm guessing things are going slow with the RICO case, Sergeant?"

"Agonisingly, sir," Angua said as she started putting her papers back into order. "But we're getting there. Should have a solid case in another week or two. Faster with Hopps and Wilde's help."

"I wouldn't bank on their help now that they're fully fledged members of Major Crimes, Sergeant," Vines admonished. "They're going to have their own caseload full soon enough. Any updates on your case at the moment, Hopps?"

"Still waiting on the autopsy report, sir," Judy answered, glancing at the time, noting it was just before 1 pm, their lunchtime. "We were calling every twenty minutes, but Billy started swearing after the seventh call."

"So, we switched to every half hour instead," Nick added. "He told me to go sodomise myself with the wide end of a garden rake."

"Thank you for that mental image, Wilde," Vines answered, rolling his eyes.

"I mean, whichever way I think about it, I just don't see how he expects me to fit…"

"Thank you, Wilde," Vines growled, silencing the fox. Nick smiled back but raised his hands in supplication. "Any idea when he'll get back to you?" Vines asked as he turned to Judy.

"He said he probably won't have anything more until this afternoon. Depending on when we get the ID, we'll then have to inform the family."

"Who will not be happy," Nick muttered.

"If he is indeed Kevin Kozlov, you're right there," Vines added. "Raymond has a temper on him that is barely restrained at the best of times."

"You've encountered him, sir?" Nick asked, surprised.

"You don't get to be Captain of Precinct One's detectives without encountering the Big mob," Vines replied. "I've had him and his brother in interrogation more than once, but their team of lawyers always got them out before we'd get anything useful outta them. Bastards. They've seen jail time, but they always won their appeals within a few months."

"They still using Clive Murray? He was one shrewd and crooked lawyer as far as I recall," Nick said, musing on his time within the Big organisation. He was essentially a glorified errand boy for them, but he'd seen enough of the Big mob to get some idea of the structure and its employees.

"Yeah, crooked-as-hell badger bastard," Vines grumbled.

"Really? I'm surprised he's still alive. He must be, what, eighty by now?"

"Eighty-five, Wilde. I think if he did die he'd come back to get reimbursed for the cost of his burial."

"Sounds like him.," Nick said, chuckling. "Wait till you meet him, Judy. I swear, if he coughs, dust will come out." He continued to laugh when Judy rolled her eyes at him. Before the conversation could get any further though, Nick's desk phone rang. "Maybe that's Bill now," Nick said, leaving the table to grab the phone. "Detective Wilde."

"Hey Nick, Clawhauser here. I got a call from Officer Akela requesting to speak with you," the bubbly cheetah said.

"Huh. She say what it was about?" Nick asked, drawing a confused glance from his partner. He shrugged in response.

"Said it was about one of your friends," Clawhauser answered.

"Finnick, great," Nick groaned. "Thanks, Spots. Put her through."

"Coming through now Nick," Clawhauser said before connecting.

"You there, Nick?" Akela's voice came through.

"Bhrast, I'm sorry for whatever Finnick's done, but you tell him I'm not bailing him out."

"What?" Akela said, confusion obvious in her voice. "What's your angry friend got to do with this?"

"I don't know, you're the one who called me about him," Nick replied. Suddenly, his brain caught up to his mouth. "You're not calling about Finnick, are you?"

"No. But coincidentally, it is another fox I'm calling about. Arctic, to be precise. The name Harry Westwood mean anything to you?"

"Wait, what? Is Harry alright?" Nick asked, panic starting to enter his voice. Harry was one of his and his mom's oldest friends. Hell, he'd even babysat Nick a few times as a kid. OK, he used to be a pimp, but nobody's perfect.

"He's fine, he's just a bit excited and Kelsey had to tranq…"

"You tranquilised him!?" he asked, raising a paw to his forehead. Within a few seconds, Judy ran over to try and calm him down.

"No, Kelsey did. I was trying to ask him what was going on. He wouldn't talk to me and demanded I call you. When I didn't he got excitable and Kelsey…well, she got a bit trigger-happy."

"Yeah…sorry. He has a history with cops. He's usually calmer than that though. Look, where are you?"

"At Zootopia General…"

"The hospital!?" Nick shouted, ignoring Judy's attempts to calm him down.

"No, the island. Of course the hospital!" Bhrast responded.

"You said he was alright!"

"HE is. His badger friend though…"

"Wait, what happened to Luther?"

"Maybe you'd better come down."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Nick walked into the medium-sized ward at Zootopia General. Vines had graciously cleared him to come to the hospital. Judy wanted to come with him, but Nick had insisted on her staying in case Bill called. They still had a case to solve after all.

"Excuse me, nurse?" Nick asked a tapir that was carrying a IV bag. Showing him his badge, he asked where Luther's room was.

"Oh, I'm just going there to replace his medication, this way please," the nurse said, and Nick followed him. "Here we go, Detective," the tapir said as he opened the door. As he did, every mammal in the room turned eyes to Nick. There was Bhrast right by the door. Her cheetah partner Kelsey was sat in the corner, her arms crossed as she kept an eye on two chairs next to the bed. One contained Harry, whose ears had perked up at the sight of Nick. He looked like he hadn't slept, and his clothes were a worn t-shirt and faded black jeans. The other one contained a mammal Nick had never seen before, both in terms of physically meeting and the species. It was a platypus, typing away at a laptop that was contained in a hard, plastic casing. He wore a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans. He had taken one look at Nick, sneered and went back to typing on his laptop.

"Nick!" Harry yelled and leapt up, running to Nick and grabbing him in a hug. As he was hugged, Nick saw Kelsey draw her paw back from her tranquiliser gun. Bhrast, meanwhile, hadn't moved a muscle. The tapir shuffled past him, and Nick finally managed to get a look at the mammal in the bed.

It was not a pretty sight.

That would have been true in Luther's normal state, but here, it was worse. There he lay, unconscious, a lot of his fur shaved away to allow bandages to be placed on far too many wounds. His chest was in cases of plaster, and his left arm was raised in the air and in a cast. His left eye was covered in a bandage along with his snout, a sure sign of a broken nose.

"Jesus. What the hell happened?" Nick said as Harry let go.

"That's what we'd like to know," Kelsey said as she stood up. A sudden huff from Akela caused her to turn. The wolf shook her head, signalling the younger partner to back off.

"Sorry Nick," Bhrast said. "We're covering a shift for a couple of the night staff so we're exhausted. Ambulance got a call from the Inferno nightclub last night around 6 pm with a report of an assault. We got there at the time and found Mr Westwood huddled over the victim. We've been trying to get information out of him since then, but he only opened up when he found out we knew you…and even then, it was just to demand that we call you."

"And that's when you bastards tranqed me!" Harry growled, turning to the cheetah in the corner.

"For assaulting a police officer," Kelsey shot back.

"For SHAKING a police officer who wasn't listening to me!" Harry shouted, his voice becoming a snarl.

"Which could be construed as assault if the officer in charge deems it and it gets back to Bogo," Bhrast said, letting the words sink in. "Which I'm not, and I don't think we need to bother the Chief of Police with this," she said after a lengthy pause.

"What? But Bhrast!" Kelsey protested but was cut off when Bhrast raised a paw.

"I'm the senior officer, my call," Bhrast said.

"Sure, don't consult me on this either…"

"Kelsey..." Bhrast warned, sending a glare at her partner. The cheetah huffed, returned to her corner and leant against it.

"Well…thank you, Officer," Harry said. "I apologise for my actions. I just…"

"Wanted to talk to me because I'm probably the only member of the ZPD you trust," Nick finished.

"Well, you and your partner. Where is she anyway?" asked Harry.

"Back at the precinct. We're working a case so you can appreciate I don't have much time. So, if you can tell me what the hell's going on, that would be a big help to everyone. Starting with who this is," Nick said, pointing to the platypus, who once again looked up and sneered at him before returning to his computer.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners. Nick, this is Luther's younger brother, Kyle," Harry said, walking Nick over to platypus.

"Adopted," Kyle answered in a harsh Northern England accent that was identical to Luther's.

"I figured that part out," Nick said, trying to contain his surprise. Luther had never mentioned a brother before. "Nice to meet you," he continued, holding out his paw. It took a few seconds for the platypus to respond, but he begrudgingly took the fox's paw and shook.

"He's in a bad mood. An eight-hour flight from the UK after a two-hour delay only to find out your brother was nearly killed when he was supposed to be picking you up will do that," Harry explained. Nick nodded. He'd probably not be up for talking much either. He considered trying to engage the young mammal again but decided against it. Harry was the one who wanted to talk. "So, what happened?" Nick asked. As he did, he saw Bhrast take out a recording device like Judy's, while Kelsey brought out a notebook. He nodded at them both, silently thanking them since he had left his notebook at the precinct with Judy.

"I don't even know. Luther was working earlier than normal because he was going to pick up Kyle from the airport and take him to his place, so he was on his own. I got a call from his cell phone and answered, but got no response. After a few seconds, I heard some laboured breathing, and I got curious. I went over to the club and found the door smashed off its hinges!"

"That big metal thing? Wow," Nick said, impressed despite himself.

"It's metal over a wooden frame actually, but still! I rushed in and found the inner entrance door destroyed along with a good chunk of the rest of the club. There was glass and tables everywhere. Behind the bar was especially bad, a load of bottles and glasses had been smashed. I went behind there and saw Luther slumped against the wall, unconscious. I rushed over and found his phone on the floor. His shotgun too, which was empty. I called the ambulance and the cops and, well…here we are."

"Anything else?" Nick asked.

"Well, there was plenty of blood, but considering Luther's wounds I'm not surprised! If I hadn't got there..."

As Harry continued, Nick noticed the absence of a certain background noise and looked over at Kyle. The platypus had stopped typing, tears streaming down his face. Nick gestured to Harry to stop talking and moved over to the younger mammal. Looking him over, Nick wasn't sure what signs to look for, but he guessed Kyle was in his late teens, making him over a decade younger than Luther.

"How you holding up?" Nick asked, but knew what the answer was going to be.

"How the fuck do you think?" Kyle muttered. _Yep, pretty much what I expected,_ Nick thought. He turned to the screen and noticed a few background programs running, while a web browser was open on a Transfurmers fan site.

"So, do I have to arrest you for hacking now?" Nick asked.

"How'd you know I was doing that?" Kyle asked with a hint of approval in his voice.

"Working with cybercrimes a few times, you get to see the sort of things they use. And how it's mainly running a few programs rather than typing furiously, unlike what Hollywood portrays," Nick answered.

"Well, no, you don't have to arrest me. This is my job," Kyle responded, clicking on a few of the programs. "I'm an ethical hacker."

"So, what? You hack from the rich and give free movies to the poor?" Nick asked, perplexed.

"No, it means I'm paid by companies to try and break into their systems and find the weaknesses," Kyle answered smugly. "S'why I moved to Zootopia. Got hired by Ramtheon Security. Luther said I should move in with him until I found my own place, but…"

"He's staying with me for the time being," Harry interjected. "And helping me get the security footage from last night."

"Don't you have access to that anyway?" Nick asked.

"Well, yes…but I forgot my password again and Luther usually helps me with that."

"S'why I'm hacking in," Kyle said. "I helped Luther set it up. Shouldn't take long."

"Please don't tell me you were planning on hunting down the people who did this and getting revenge?" Nick asked.

"Do I look like the protagonist of a bad 90's action movie?" Kyle retorted, rolling his eyes. "Harry convinced me to give them to you, and only you."

"I'm flattered," Nick said, then turned to Harry, "but I don't think I'll be able to help much, Harry. I'm with Major Crimes now, so this will probably have to go to the regular ZPD detectives."

"As long as you pick them, I trust you," Harry replied and winked.

"I'm on the fence," Kyle replied, turning his attention back to the screen.

" _I trust you as far as I can throw you,"_ a weak voice spoke up, causing everyone in the room to turn to the bed. They all saw that Luther had opened his good eye. "Which, to be fair, is pretty far," he continued, his voice gaining a little strength.

"BRO!" Kyle shouted, his laptop falling to the floor as he leapt up, the case protecting it cracking slightly. He grabbed his brother and held him until Luther protested. "Ow ow ow!" the badger yelled, telling Kyle to ease up with his embrace.

"Kelsey, go get the doctor. Let them know that Luther's awake," Bhrast said, moving closer to the bed. Kelsey exited the room at top speed, barely acknowledging the order. Nick hung back as Kyle and Harry fussed over the now conscious Luther.

"Everything OK, Bhrast?" Nick asked, tilting his head to the door.

"Yeah…I told her I'm going for detective. She isn't taking it well," Bhrast answered, annoyance in her voice.

"Well good to hear," Nick replied, genuinely pleased that she was. Despite their shared dislike for each other during their first meetings, Bhrast had proven to be an effective police-mammal and a good friend. Being in Internal Affairs had also honed her detective skills, so she would do well in that department. "Want me to talk…"

"My problem, Nick, not yours," Bhrast said as Kelsey walked back in, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation with her in earshot. Nick nodded and was glad when the doctor arrived, a muntjac deer.

"Ah, so glad when a patient has plenty of visitors," the doctor commented as he walked up to the bed. "Hello Mr Hill, I'm Doctor Katri. Do you know where you are?"

"Well, since I'm in bed and you're a doctor, I'm assuming a hospital," Luther said slowly.

"Hmm, consciousness to sarcasm in minutes, that's good."

"The hell happened to me?"

"You have several lacerations to your sternum, a broken nose, a few broken ribs, and a broken arm. Cuts to your ankles, chest, bruises around your neck and claw marks on your back. Also, you have several bruises in various parts of your body that I can only assume by their size was someone taking a sledgehammer to you. And you must have swallowed some glass or something because your mouth and the top of your throat have several cuts as well. You also have a deep slash across your left eye. Thankfully, whatever you were attacked with only scratched the surface of your actual eyeball. It'll heal and be usable, but you're going to have some scarring, unfortunately.

"There go my good looks," Luther answered, laying back in his bed **.** Despite waking, he was obviously dead tired.

"Can't lose something you never had," Kyle remarked, wiping a few tears from his eyes.

"Hey, I'll be fine kid. We'll get you sorted out."

"I'm staying with Harry."

"Thanks, mate," Luther said, nodding to Harry. While the conversation had been going on, Nick took note of the descriptions of the wounds that had been inflicted on the badger. They seemed very similar to the ones from his case.

"Luther, can you tell us anything about who attacked you?" Nick asked, but he could tell by the slow reactions that his friend was probably not up to it at the moment.

"Sorry mate, head's a little fuzzy," Luther replied, his eyes fluttering as he struggled to keep them open.

"Alright, I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. This mammal needs his rest. He'll be here for a few days at least," Dr Katri said.

"S'okay, bruv," Luther said sleepily. "You'll be here tomorrow, yeah?"

"Sure thing," Kyle assured, giving his brother a quick hug. The rest of the mammals in the room waited as the platypus finished and collected his things, heading out of the room. As he did so, a beep emitted from his computer that he ignored until they were in the hallways. Once outside the room, he turned his attention to it.

"Seems like we're not going to be getting anything useful out of him for a couple of days," Kelsey said. "When do you think he'll be up to being asked a few questions?" she asked the doctor.

"I'd say give it until the day after tomorrow at least, he should start healing properly by then and we can lower the strength of his pain meds," the deer answered.

"Doctor, do you have any photographs of his injuries?" Nick asked. "It may be related to a case I'm working on. We have a mammal who was beaten to death and a lot of the descriptions you gave sound familiar to what we found…"

"Well, yes, but I can't release them without consulting the head of medicine, or the patient's consent."

"I understand, but time may be a factor here…"

"You already know who did it?" Harry asked, causing Kyle to look up.

"No, but it may be related to another case I'm working on," Nick said, scratching his chin. He turned to Bhrast. "You got any objections to MCU taking this on?" he asked. It was still her case, after all.

"As a beat cop, no. But isn't there a conflict of interest with you knowing the victim?" Bhrast asked, putting her Internal Affairs training to use.

"Potentially, but considering the case I don't think it'll be a problem," Nick said, not giving out any more information than he needed to.

"Will this help?" Kyle spoke up, holding his computer out to Nick. A video player was open and had begun playing.

"You got into the network?" Harry asked, somewhat impressed and annoyed. He'd spent a lot of money on that security.

"Yeah, but I'll beef it up as a thank you for getting Luther to the hospital," Kyle answered. Nick crouched down closer to Kyle's height, with Harry, Bhrast and Kelsey looking over his shoulder. The film footage was good quality and in colour, but there was no sound, which was probably for the best considering what was playing.

They watched as the camera facing the bar showed Luther running in from a door just offscreen. He was already hurt and limping when several chunks of wood came flying from the direction he had run. The badger stumbled and fell, and within seconds a small ferret-like mammal caught up with him. The mammal took what looked like a set of chains and threw it around Luther's neck, trying to choke him. Using his superior size, Luther threw the figure off his back, but they landed deftly on a table at the top of the camera view, the chain following them. Luther tried to move, but he was suddenly set upon by a much larger mammal, a snow leopard by Nick's guess. The leopard slashed at Luther's back, bringing him down. Luther turned over, only to get a punch to the gut for his trouble. A few seconds later, a tiger…maybe tigress, appeared and shoved the leopard aside. Luther was picked up and placed on a chair, but not after receiving another claw slash to the chest. Soon, three other mammals appeared…no, four. A rat scuttled in and jumped on a table next to Luther. The other mammals were a small red panda, a bat and the largest panda Nick had ever seen.

They appeared to be talking to Luther, who was definitely hurt and breathing heavily. He obviously said something displeasing to the red panda, who seemed to be the one doing the talking for the thugs. A flash of metal appeared on the bat's feet, and he kicked out across Luther's face. The large giant panda then pounded his fist full on into Luther's nose. The red panda said something, but instead of responding, Luther just glared at him. Suddenly, the red panda snapped his fingers and the rat jumped up onto Luther's lap. There was a glint of metal in its paws. Suddenly, the panda moved and grabbed the top and bottom of Luther's muzzle, pulling them apart several inches.

Then the rat jumped in.

For a second or two, the rat moved inside and the flash of metal appeared again. Nick knew without a doubt that what the rat was holding were knives. Luther jerked in pain as the rat presumably began cutting the inside of his mouth and throat. It didn't last long, however, as Luther convulsed and the rat was hurled from his mouth via a tide of vomit that drenched him, catching the arm of the giant panda and hitting the red panda right in the face. The small mammal shrank back in disgust and started shouting. The giant panda's fist drew back and slammed right into Luther's chest, sending him hurtling through the air and crashing into the wall behind the bar.

Jesus fucking Christ…" Harry muttered disgust and anger in his voice. Nick looked up at Kyle, whose face was stoic but false. It was an expression Nick had used himself many a time, one with a lot of pain being locked down tight. Nick swallowed and kept watching. The group of mammals were approaching the bar when suddenly they all shot backwards, some flipping elegantly, others just moving quickly as Luther appeared, brandishing a shotgun. He fired rounds in every direction. They all missed for the most part, although the tigress seemed to be clutching her thigh. Luther dropped the gun and brought out a pistol. He fired three rounds, one at the bat that was circling above him, one at the rat that was trying to run around the side of the bar, and the last one at the small red panda.

That hit home.

The small mammal spun around as the bullet hit his shoulder and fell to the floor. Immediately, the other mammals stood stock still, unsure what to do. That was until the giant panda ran over, scooped up the red panda, and motioned for the others to follow him. A final shot chased them from the bar as Luther aimed vaguely in their direction, but he missed completely. Still, it got the other mammals moving as they all ran or flew for the exit, the tigress being helped by the snow leopard.

Nick stood up from his crouching position, his back arching slightly at being bent over. "Goddamn…" he mused. "Your brother is one tough son of a bitch," he remarked to Kyle, which drew a little satisfaction at the smile on his beak…or bill, whatever it was called. True, Luther had nearly died, but he'd managed to hold off seven other mammals by himself with a shotgun and a pistol after getting the shit kicked out of him. That time he'd spent in the army obviously served him well, mainly with the thinking of taking out the leader. Nick mulled that over, finding it unusual that all the mammals, including the largest ones, seemed completely at a loss at what to do without the red panda.

"Thanks," Kyle said with a mixture of pride and sadness.

"I'm gonna need a copy of that," Nick said and was surprised when Kyle thrust a USB stick in his paw immediately.

"Thought you might," the platypus said.

"You need anything?" Nick asked. While he never had a brother, he knew what it was like to lose a father. Luther would survive, but he could have succumbed to his wounds if Harry hadn't found him when he did, considering the beating the badger had taken.

"Just catch the bastards who did this…" the platypus said quietly, his tears starting up again. Harry stepped in at that point, placing a paw on his shoulder. "I better take him home," he said.

"Wait a second," Nick said, turning to Bhrast and Kelsey. "You guys OK with hanging out here until I get some relief in? From that video, I have the feeling these guys are not the kind of people who like leaving witnesses."

"Sure, Nick, what's another hour?" Bhrast said but immediately yawned. "I guess this means you'll be formally taking the case?"

"Yes, but I think it might be part of mine anyway," he said, turning back to Kyle. "I'm gonna get some protection for your brother, just in case."

"Thanks, Nick," Kyle replied. Nick normally didn't like people he'd just met using his first name, but he'd let it go this time. Luther was a friend, and his brother had been through the wringer.

"Okay, you get out of here," Nick replied, watched Kyle and Harry leave. After they were out of sight, he directed Kelsey and Bhrast to take up station outside the hospital door. He then got his phone out, selected a number and hit call.

"Captain Vines here."

"Hey Captain, it's Nick. Is Judy with you?"

"Oh, Wilde, she was just about to call you. Let me get her. HOPPS! GET IN HERE!" the wolf yelled, causing Nick to almost drop his phone. "She's here, Wilde."

"Thanks, boss. Can you put her on speaker?"

"You're already on," Vines explained.

"Nick, I was just about to call. Billy got back to me, he's confirmed that the deceased is Kevin Kozlov. You were right."

"Well, that sucks," Nick said, shaking his head. He wasn't exactly friends with the Big mob, but he had still spent plenty of time in their company. "I think I have a lead though. My friend, Luther, got the shit kicked out of him by a group of mammals. His injuries seem suspiciously similar to the ones sustained by Kevin…"

"Oh god! Is he alive?" Judy asked.

"Yeah. He had guns, unlike Kevin. And sir, I'm going to need to get access to the medical records of Luther Hill so I can take them to Billy. I want to get them compared. I also have video evidence that might be useful in identifying our suspects."

"Bloody hell, Wilde, you and Hopps don't mess around when you get a case, do you?"

"Yeah…but we better get Bagheera on this too. If the cases are related, there may be a conflict of interest with my friend being attacked," Nick said.

"There's already more than enough going in this anyway, Wilde, but I appreciate you being up front. Look, I'll speak with Bogo, see if we can get you those medical records in the next hour. Anything else?"

"Yeah, can we get a couple of uniformed officers down at the hospital? The mammals who attacked my friend don't seem to be the type to leave witnesses or hold a grudge."

"What?"

"Yeah, Luther shot one of them. They all made it away alive, but well, it was self-defence," Nick added, cursing himself for leaving that out.

"Understood, I'll get Bogo to sort it out. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Judy?" Nick asked.

"Still here, Slick," Judy responded.

"I need you to listen to this very carefully. The entire case could hinge on what I'm about to tell you," he said, making his voice as serious as possible.

"Got it," Judy said, her own voice filled with determination.

"Good. Get me a large cappuccino with skimmed milk, whipped cream and a shot of vanilla, a turkey ham and cheese panini, and a blueberry muffin from Snarlbucks, would ya? I'm starving and the coffee here is terrible."

He hung up just in case the expletive-laden tirade from his fiancée woke the coma patients.

* * *

Notes:

I make no apologies for the pun in the title.

Thanks to DrummerMax64 and CombatEngineer once again for getting this proofed.


	6. Furious

The racoon removed his mask after he finished closing the wound and cleaning it. That probably wouldn't help in this abandoned warehouse, but he did it for the sheer look of the thing. Besides, he was the one who suggested this location. The mammals he worked for valued their privacy, which was why they came to him rather than, say, going to a hospital and using an actual doctor. Oh, he was a real doctor alright, or rather had been up until the medical board had stripped him of his license, but that was hardly his fault. If the users he was selling the drugs to hadn't OD'd, nobody would have known about it or cared. OK, yes, there was also the time he left his watch in a patient…OK, _patients_. But what did people expect? Being a surgeon was hard, and he couldn't remember everything! It was a good thing he had hired the best lawyers in the city and gotten off with only a token six-month prison sentence at a minimum security prison with more bankers than gangsters, and a ridiculous fine as well. Now here he was, reduced to bandaging and sewing up criminals for cash in hand. Not that the job didn't pay well; in fact, he made more than a lot of doctors. But he missed the status and the young nurses who were desperate for any help to climb the ladder in a prestigious hospital.

He turned to the tigress and panda who had been standing mere feet away during the entire process. "He'll be fine," he said, watching them both visibly relax. "I'm gonna leave some meds to fight infection and he should take bed rest for a few days, but he was damn lucky. An inch or two to the side and he'd have a bullet lodged in his shoulder blade."

"Thank you, Doctor," the panda said. "Jo Li?" he continued, nudging his female companion. The tigress picked up a small duffel bag and tossed it at the racoon's feet.

"One moment please," the racoon said. He removed his clothes, gown and other surgical attire, stripping down to his underwear. He placed the items in a small cheap bag he'd brought with him, readying them to be burned when he got halfway home. This way, he would leave as little genetic evidence as possible, just in case the ZPD caught wind of what had happened tonight. He dressed himself in a similarly cheap pair of jeans and t-shirt. No use ruining a good suit. Finally, he picked up and opened the duffel bag and pulled out the money. He counted it quickly and found the exact amount that had been agreed upon. "Thank you," he said, zipping up the bag. "Hopefully you won't need it, but please keep hold of my number in case you need me again." And with that said, he left. He never stuck around for the small talk. He might end up hearing something that someone didn't want him to hear.

"Arrogant little pelt," Jo Li muttered as she walked over to the Master. He looked so peaceful under the anaesthetic. She checked the stitches. "But good at his job," she conceded. She'd seen plenty of deadly wounds in her time, and this one was nothing to be overly worried about…at least, in anyone under the age of 40. The mammal in front of her was significantly older than that but far healthier than a typical septuagenarian. _He'll be fine_ , she hoped.

"That's a relief," the panda said, walking over.

"You sure we can trust him though, Dragon?" Jo Li asked.

"Not like we had much choice," Dragon huffed. He placed a paw on Jo Li's shoulder, causing the tigress to blush slightly. In fairness, the muscles on him would make any female (or suitably inclined male) turn their heads. He also knew how much the Master meant to her. "We'll get the bastard who did this."

"You might want to hold off on that," said another voice. Its owner, Liu the mongoose, walked up, tapping away on her phone. "Guy's currently in a hospital and surrounded by police."

"How'd you know that?"

"Tran just picked up Rogen and is on his way back from recon. But Rogen sent me these pictures," Liu replied, holding her phone up. "They even have cameras in the air ducts, so there's no way our rodent friend can get near him without being spotted. I tell ya, these ZPD guys are far better at their job than the Hong Kong cops."

"Well, at least Big will have another loss of revenue for a while, even if his lackey lives,"Dragon replied.

"Yeah…about that..."

"Oh God, what?" Jo Li asked. She'd known Liu longer than Dragon had and knew whenever she took that tone she was about to give bad news.

"He's not a Big employee."

"But..that club was owned by Big!" Dragon yelled, anger in his voice.

"Yeah, _was,_ " Liu said, sighing. People never paid attention. "I did some digging after tonight. Turns out it was bought by a former pimp who went straight over ten years ago. Took me about 5 minutes of Zoogle searching to find that out."

"Which means what exactly?" Jo Li asked.

"It means we just beat up an innocent mammal, and probably have the ZPD on our asses!" Dragon bellowed. "Especially since we didn't bother to check if there was any security footage of us because we had to run out of there!" he continued. He turned to the small red panda on the table, who was breathing slowly, still under the influence of the anaesthetic. Jo Li watched as Dragon balled his fist, but stopped after a few seconds.

Suddenly, a shout from the far side of the warehouse distracted the group. "Hey Dragon? Is he dead yet?" The panda glared at the door where the snow leopard Tai had appeared.

"Uh oh…" Liu gulped as she got out of Dragon's way. "This will not be pretty."

"Stay with Master," Jo Li ordered and ran after Dragon. "Wait, calm down!"

"Oh, did I guess right?" Tai the snow leopard asked as he closed the door behind him. He'd been outside the warehouse acting as lookout while the surgery was going on. He approached the panda with palms up, trying to placate him.

"For your information, he isn't dead yet," Dragon growled.

"Huh. Tough old bastard," Tai said facetiously.

"You should know it would take more than that to kill him," Jo Li said, trying to keep her own rage under control.

"True, but you can't blame me for preparing for the worst," Tai replied, a smug smile on his face. Suddenly, Dragon thrust out a paw and punched the leopard square in the jaw, sending him to the ground.

"You pulled the punch, I knew you cared," Tai said after checking his jaw wasn't broken.

"Here's what I don't get. You've been with Master the longest, and yet you seem completely ambivalent about his fate. And he knows it. So why the hell are you still around? Some would say you should be his most loyal follower."

"You're right, I have known him the longest. That also means I know his time is almost up," Tai replied, picking himself up off the floor.

"What do you mean?" Jo Li asked, growling.

"Oh come off it, Jo Li. You and I have been with him since childhood. We both know what he's really like, in private especially," Tai purred, but not without a hint of revulsion in his voice.

"What does he mean?" Dragon asked, turning to Jo Li, who was choking down her own vomit.

"Nothing," the tigress immediately said, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Anyway. We all know this isn't the first time he's screwed us over," Tai replied, taking a good long look into Jo Li's eyes. "Yes, Liu told me what she found out about tonight's debacle. It's the latest in a long line of mistakes. I say this not because it's pleasant, but because it's the truth. And you all know it."

"ENOUGH!" Dragon shouted, his anger echoing off the walls. "As long as the Master is still alive, he will lead us until he chooses a successor."

"Unless he dies," Tai pointed out casually.

Claws unsheathing, Jo Li took a step forward. "Is that a threat?"

"Oh please," Tai said, shaking his head. "Do I look that fucking stupid to you? I know if I killed him that both of you would kill me without hesitation." He sighed and placed a thumb and finger to his temple. "Look. It's true I've grown colder to the old codger recently, but I owe him too much to kill him. What I'm saying is it's because of him that we're in this predicament. Remember when we warned him about that new Commissioner of Police back in Hong Kong? Tequila, wasn't it? He didn't even bother to try and bribe him. Not that it would have worked anyway. No, he just kept clinging to his old contacts and old ways. We became predictable, and that's why we're the only members of the Jade Triad left! We ignored him as he took down the Flying Rhinos, the Imperial Sheep, all of them! And now here we are, stuck in a foreign city with barely more than a few hundred grand to our name, no influence, and being shot at by fucking badgers!"

The leopard's rant finished, and he stood there breathing hard. Dragon and Jo Li stood silently, glowering at him. They didn't hate Tai. Oh, they didn't like him too much, but it was hard to hate a fellow member of the Jade Triad. Especially when they both knew he was 100% right.

Not that they would admit that aloud.

"We should not be discussing this… _at this time_ ," Jo Li said. She turned to Dragon, who nodded almost imperceptibly. They were in agreement in that regard and what the statement implied.

"Yes…not at _this_ time," Tai said, nodding and understanding the implications and allowing himself a smile. "So now what?"

"We get Master back to the hotel and wait for him to recuperate before discussing our next move. This error will no doubt get the ZPD involved, and if we act rashly, it may doom the whole enterprise," Dragon answered.

"Fair enough. Want me to take him in my car?" Tai asked, removing his keys.

"No, Jo Li and I will take Master back. You and Liu stay here and wait for Rogen and Tran. Make sure there's no evidence."

"You're the boss," Tai said, throwing a mock salute. As he walked off, Dragon kept his eye on the leopard, wondering why he'd said that.

A few minutes later, with Master safely secured in the back seat of their second car, Jo Li and Dragon were about to leave when Liu opened her mouth.

"Try not to be too loud and wake the old guy, OK you too?" she requested, winking before closing the door. Jo Li blushed again and turned to Dragon…who was also blushing.

"I really wish she wouldn't do that," he said as he drove away from the docks.

"Well maybe if you could have kept your paws to yourself for five minutes, she wouldn't have found you in my room back in Hong Kong," Jo Li replied.

"Jo Li, the Master!" Dragon wailed.

"Relax, he's out like a light," she said, turning in her seat. She poked the red panda a few times to demonstrate. "See?"

After a few seconds of silence, Dragon finally spoke up. "I didn't hear you complaining," he shot back, allowing a smile to appear on his face now that they were alone.

"Well, I did have my mouth full at the time," she said, letting out a giggle. Something she couldn't imagine she'd be doing a few years ago. However, ever since Dragon had joined the Master's Triad organisation, she had been discovering new things about herself almost daily.

"You know interspecies relationships are nowhere near as frowned upon over here, right?" Dragon said casually. "I even read that there's a fox and rabbit due to get married in a few months' time. Crazy, huh?"

"I'm aware of that, yes," Jo Li said, relaxing in a way she only could when her and Dragon were alone, unconscious crime lords notwithstanding. "Is that why you suggested to Master we come here?"

"Not like we had much choice anyway," Dragon grumbled. "As much as I hate to admit it, Tai was right. We damn near lost everyone in that police raid," he groaned, remembering that catastrophe from seven months ago.

"Yeah, well, the Chinese are big on rooting out corruption from the previous capitalist ways of British-ruled Hong Kong," Jo Li said.

"Yeah, and replacing it with their own," Dragon said. He chuckled. Hypocrisy always made him laugh.

"Just wish we had come better prepared," Jo Li replied. "Going up against the Big mob with just the seven of us?"

"That's why we have to start hitting them, harder and faster now. We have nothing to offer them in an alliance. That was made abundantly clear."

"I know. But we definitely have to be a lot smarter about it. We can't have another incident like last night."

"Agreed."

"Which means we should not seek retribution on that badger," she concluded.

"That…is wise," Dragon replied after a moment's hesitation. "Perhaps Master will learn from the experience? I know I have."

"Oh really? And what did you learn?"

"We need guns."

"Master won't like that," Jo Li said, but not disagreeing with him.

"Perhaps, but we'll just have to explain that this is not Hong Kong. Guns are far easier to procure here."

"It's worth considering at least," Jo Li replied. "Whatever you decide, I'll back you up."

"Please, I already have Tai calling me boss, and sarcastically at that. I don't need you doing it as well," Dragon chuckled. He leaned over to give Jo Li a quick kiss on the cheek before returning his attention to the road.

 _Who says I'm being sarcastic?_ Jo Li thought, keeping it to herself for now. She turned in her seat to observe Master. "How long do you think he'll be out for?"

"Another hour or two according to the doctor's advice. Plenty of time to get him comfortable," Dragon responded. Jo Li simply nodded and turned away from Master, which meant she missed the second time his eyes had opened that night.

* * *

Notes:

Thanks to DrummerMax64 and CombatEngineer for proofing.


	7. Tongue in Cheek

Nick stifled a yawn as he took a sip of his coffee, cursing early mornings as he did so. The fact that it was actually almost noon did little to convince him they didn't deserve it. It had more to do with the fact he was worried about the case. Although Judy had joined him at the hospital, it had taken them past their shift to get Luther's medical files. By that point, Billy had left for the night, so they just went home. But Nick couldn't quiet his mind of worry. Luther was his… _friend_ was a strong word for his relationship with the badger, but he'd be damned if he was a simple acquaintance either. And now that friend was in a bad way. This also had him starting to worry about all his other friends, especially Finnick. He still hadn't gotten around to talking to his former partner. _Dammit, anxiety is a stone-cold bitch._

At least Judy was there to keep him focused, although currently, she was on top of a stool, pointing out information on Luther's injury photographs for Billy on his computer screen. This had the added benefit of putting her cute fluffy tail right in his line of sight, which was what he was currently focused on. However, when Billy began to talk, Nick forced himself to look at the somewhat less pleasant-looking goat.

"Well, wounds on a living mammal are very different to those of a corpse, you understand," Billy said, turning away from his monitor. "But…yeah, I would say the ones on the same parts of the body are similar enough. Frankly, I find it hard to believe there would be two separate small mammals going around slashing the insides of throats. At least, I hope there aren't."

"Would you be willing to go on record with that?" Judy asked.

"Yeah, I'll do a report on it. Not that it'll do much good for evidence in a court case."

"Gotta catch the bastards before we worry about that," Nick pointed out.

"Is your friend OK?" Billy asked.

"As OK as you can be when attacked by seven mammals and living through it. Especially when one of those guys weighed more in muscle than the other six combined," Nick answered. "He's gonna heal, but he was heavily injured too." They'd gotten the go-ahead to fill Bill in on the details of the case from Bogo and Bagheera before coming over, even giving the goat a viewing of the security footage.

"Speaking of statements, I wanted to clarify something in your report from the polar bear," Judy said, flipping through her notebook. "You said he died of blunt force trauma, most likely from the bare paws of a mammal smaller than him?"

"Yeah," said Billy.

"Specifically, that it was a blow to the head?" Judy pressed.

"Sa'll right there in the report. Whoever hit him caused his skull to cave in, lodging several bone fragments in the brain and causing a lot of bleeding. Would have gone quickly at least," Billy said, shaking his head.

"So, would you say that would be consistent with the injuries sustained by Luther?"

"Hard to say really," Billy said, shrugging. "At least, not with one hundred percent certainty."

"But you just said the wounds were similar," Nick said.

"On the same parts of the body, yes," Billy nodded. "Look, a blow to the head looks a lot different than a blow to the stomach," he pointed out, not unreasonably. "While we can match force and paw size to a degree, we can't match them exactly. Hell, even two identical injuries to identical mammals can be caused by completely different methods." He paused for a second, seeming to consider something. "You're both younger than me, but I presume you've seen the Rocky movies?"

"You mean with Sylvester Stallion? Of course. Classics," Nick confirmed.

"Yeah, remember Rocky III? Where he fought that Ivan Drago guy played by that massive deer? Rudolph Lundgren? Well, during filming, Sly asked Rudolph to punch him as hard as he can, to see if he could take it. Lundgren hit Stallion so hard that they had to take him to the hospital. The doctors there thought he'd been hit by a horse-sized car."

"Remind me never to piss off Rudolph Lundgren," Nick commented. "Though Judy could probably take him."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don't think I'll try," Judy said, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, you see my point, right?" Billy interrupted. "While I'm confident in saying that the injuries sustained by the polar bear fall pretty much in line with the injuries sustained by the badger, and thus I would put twenty bucks on that panda being our killer, I can't say it's definite. Make of that what you will, but a lawyer would rip that to shreds."

"Well, it's better than nothing. Thanks, Billy," Nick said, then sighed. "Now comes the fun part."

"Telling the family?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, and considering his only known family has a temper bigger than Godzilla, I'm not looking forward to it," said Nick. "Thanks, Billy. Take it easy." With that said, the detectives made their way out of the building.

"Are you gonna be OK with this, Nick?" Judy asked as they walked out the front doors. She had waited until they were outside the morgue, which Billy had insisted on keeping his office located. Nick still hated the place, and she wanted him to be a bit more comfortable before asking the question.

"I'll be fine, Fluff, eventually. Just a bit weird is all, being this close to the case."

"Yeah, seems too convenient. But I guess that's life," she said, shrugging. "So, you know where Raymond will be now?"

"Yeah, he'll be at home. I'll drive," Nick said as they approached their car. They climbed in, Judy taking the passenger seat as Nick started the engine and began the drive to Tundratown. As he did, his phone began to ring. "Can you check that, hun?" he asked Judy since he was driving, awkwardly pulling the phone from his pocket as he kept his eyes on the road.

Obliging him, Judy took the phone and looked at the screen. She froze for a second before turning to Nick. "It's Finnick..."

She watched as Nick took a deep breath and nodded. She answered the call, putting it on speaker.

"Yo, my main fox, how's it hanging?" Finnick greeted, full of his usual confidence. Judy glanced back at Nick and saw he had taken a very tight grip on the wheel. "What do you want, Finnick?" came the reply, barely controlled anger seeping through.

"Uhm, is Judy with you?" Finnick asked, his voice taking a decidedly less confident tone.

"Hi, Fin," Judy answered for her mate. Nick just huffed.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened at your place. I was hungover and honestly didn't realise you were in the shower. You might not believe it, but it's true. And well, when I saw you…my mouth went faster than my brain. And I'm sorry I got a peek at your fiancée, Nick. It wasn't cool. I'm sorry it took me so long to call and apologise."

"Why did it?" Nick asked before Judy could get a word in.

"Honestly…not used to seeing you that mad at me, bro…" Finnick answered. His voice was barely a whisper now. "Look, how about I make it up to you? Buy you both dinner and drinks?"

"So, you see my fiancée naked, and buy us dinner? How is that fair?" Nick asked. While the anger was still there, a hint of joviality had returned.

"Well, I don't have a girl you can see nude. I mean, I could strip if you want..." Finnick answered, picking up on Nick's more friendly tone. Judy let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"Tempting, but we've already seen each other nude. Remember that hustle we pulled at Mystic Springs?" Nick replied, allowing a small laugh.

"Despite many an attempt to kill the brains cells with vodka, yes," Finnick said with a snort. Judy lay back in her seat, content to allow the two friends to make up. She didn't need to poke her nose in.

"You can afford a meal for three? Thought you had trouble finding work," Nick said.

"Eh, I got some savings to live on for a bit if needed, no biggie. Just nowhere too expensive, if that's OK?"

"You know the Smiling Tiger?"

"That Chinese restaurant in downtown? Yeah. You wanna go there?"

"If that's alright with you."

"Yeah. How's about you let me know when you've finished work for the day and meet me there? Or do we need a reservation?"

"Not on a Tuesday night, no."

"Awesome…so, we good?" Finnick asked, his voice getting hopeful. Nick turned to Judy, who just rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, we're good, Fin. Look, we'll catch up later, got a case to get back to."

"OK. Thanks, Nick, Judy. See ya tonight." Finnick said just before the call ended. Judy kept hold of Nick's phone, as placing it back in his pocket while he was driving would have been difficult. "You only picked the Smiling Tiger because Xiong never lets us pay," she spoke up, shaking her head.

"Hey, not my fault. I try to pay every time but he never picks up the cash," Nick said, winking. Judy laughed. A few months ago, she and Nick had rescued a tiger cub from a storm drain, Tyler Macan. His father ran the Smiling Tiger restaurant, a fact he had mentioned at the time but didn't really sink in until they happened to walk in one day. Because they had returned his son to him, the few times they had been back the proud father refused to accept payment. And it would be a safe bet that it would happen again tonight.

"I knew you couldn't stay mad at him for long," Judy teased, glad that Nick was making up with his friend.

"Oh, I'm still mad…but well, Luther nearly getting killed put a few things in perspective. I mean, I'm barely friends with him and it hurts that he almost died. Imagine if that had happened to Fin and the last time I saw him alive was kicking him out of our place?"

Judy nodded and internally marvelled at how much better Nick was with sharing his feelings in recent months. He still had work to do, but ever since they'd started working together he'd opened up to her more and more. It had taken a massive turn when they started dating, though not without its trauma. She still remembered the day Nick had a panic attack that actually caused her injury. He was so distraught over it he had run away from her, fearing he would hurt her again. Of course, she knew it was an accident and he'd never knowingly do such a thing, but it had taken her almost arresting several mammals for assault then practically doing the same to him herself to get him to calm down.

She also knew there was something else worrying her fiancé.

"We should visit your mom this weekend," Judy mentioned. It had been almost a month since they'd last gotten together, what with work and his mother getting out by herself more and more since she had the all-clear from chemotherapy. Nick worried about his mother incessantly; she was the one constant in his life through everything. From illness to homelessness (not that she knew that last part), Carmelita Wilde had been Nick's rock. However, when she got sick, it had hit him hard. Although she was recovering now, Nick seemed to be more aware that she wasn't going to around forever. Judy was used to that, having a family as large as hers meant there was almost as many funerals as births, and some of those had been close relatives, including a younger brother when she was a teenager. She was emotionally equipped to deal with loss. Nick, simply put, wasn't. True, he had lost his father when he was young, but he had admitted to taking that very badly. So much so that she wasn't really sure if he had fully dealt with all his feelings.

"If we get time," Nick said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"We'll make time," Judy responded.

"How are your folks doing by the way?" Nick asked. Not that he didn't already know of course, but she decided not to point that out. Or the fact that he was deflecting.

"They're OK, Dad's just sore that he has to buy a new tractor. The current one is only fifty years old, after all."

"Practically brand new," Nick replied, chuckling.

The rest of the drive continued as such, simple conversation trailing off into silence as they entered Tundratown. Nick was thankful for the silence, as he needed to concentrate on driving. While careful management of the environment and specially designed roads help, black ice was still a danger, particularly for those mammals not used to the climate.

Judy looked up from her phone after some time and began to vaguely recognise the surroundings. Though the last time she saw this area was under less than ideal circumstances, she recognised the roads leading to Mr Big's compound.

"Nick, I thought you said Raymond would be at home?"

"And that's where we're going, Fluff."

"You mean he lives at Big's compound?"

"Yup. What, you think Big has a large mammal-sized mansion because he needs it? He keeps most of his closest lieutenants on site."

"I just thought it was a prestige thing," Judy mumbled, but she could see the point. Even if Big kept most of his own family on site, since they were shrews, there was no way they'd take up even a tenth of the huge mansion, never mind the surrounding grounds.

"Well, that is part of it, yeah. I also think he uses it for intimidation tactics. He always has his meetings there."

"I would have thought he had enough of that with that huge polar bear he has to carry him everywhere."

"Ah, that'd be Kozlov, his second. Yeah, I think he has the whole thing. A 'here's what I have and guys like this who work for me is how I keep it' sorta thing."

"Wait…Kozlov? So, is he a relative of Kevin, too?"

"What? Oh no, just coincidence. Kozlov is his first name."

"Doesn't that get confusing?" Judy asked.

"No, because when people say Kozlov, they know exactly who they're talking about."

"I suppose they would," Judy mused, thinking back on her encounter with the massive bear. All he had done was stand there, looming in the background, but he had left an impression. She wouldn't be forgetting his name in a hurry. "What's his last name?"

"Honestly, no clue. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have one. And even if he asked, I don't think he would tell me," said Nick, turning onto the final street before Big's compound. He stopped the car and turned to Judy. "So, how do we want to do this?" he asked.

Judy sat for a few seconds and thought. While they were there primarily to inform Raymond of his brother's death, things were never that simple. In their limited experience with homicides as beat cops and as detectives, they'd had more than a few where it turned out the murderer was one of their own family members. That probably wasn't the case here, considering everything else they had going on in this case, but it meant that informing family members became their own interviews of a sort. Of course, they'd ask if Kevin had enemies, which in this instance would probably be a long list, but they'd be gauging Raymond's reactions as well.

The added wrinkle was that since Big's group by definition was completely opposed to the police (though damned if the ZPD could prove that to any meaningful degree), it would mean Raymond would know this.

"I think you should lead. You know him better than I do, and you're better at reading mammals while talking to them. I'll take notes and keep my ears open for anything else though. As long as you're up to it," she said, hoping he wouldn't take the last comment as a judgement on his abilities.

"I'll be fine, Carrots, but thanks for asking," he replied, giving her a quick, chaste kiss. "Well, let's go ruin Raymond's day." With that, he drove up the street and to the Big compound entrance. Whereas before they had gone in without pause, here one of Big's guards stopped them at the gate.

"OK guys, turn around, this is private property," the bear began, but stopped when he noticed the mammals in the car. "Wilde, you know you're not supposed to be here."

Instead of an answer, Nick calmly retrieved his badge from his coat pocket and showed it to the guard. "Hello, Morris. My partner and I need to speak to Raymond. Is he home?"

Morris stared at the badge for a second. "Wow, and I thought that was bullshit. Guess you did go straight."

"I see you still keep up with current events as well as ever. Ever read or watch the news at all?"

"Ah, I can't be bothered following that stuff. So, why do you need to talk to Raymond?"

"It's a private matter. He should hear it first," Nick replied.

"I don't know if he's gonna want to hear it. He's been on the warpath lately looking for Kevin," Morris said, and then stopped when Nick didn't ask any follow-up questions. "Wait, is this about him?"

"Raymond really needs to hear this news," Nick replied. The words didn't give a hint of what the conversation was to be about, but the sad tone Nick adopted definitely did.

Morris picked up on that immediately. "Go right ahead," he said, removing the chain from the compound's driveway. "I'll call ahead."

"Thanks, Morris. Catch you later," Nick replied and drove to the front of the house. When they arrived and exited the car, Nick and Judy were met by another bear named Vasili that Nick greeted. Rather than answering, the smartly dressed mammal lead them inside. After a few minutes, they were led to a large sitting room, replete with comfortable chairs for all sizes of mammals. They were seated in one of the small sets of chairs and declined the offer of drinks. A few moments later, another pair of bears came in and, without a word, picked up one of the larger couches and arranged the furniture around Nick and Judy, placing the larger couch and a relatively small table in front of them. Before either detective could ask why, they had left.

A few seconds later, a door to their side opened. Ducking under the door came the hulking form of Koslov. In his paws sat the diminutive form of Mr Big. Before the pair could be greeted by the detectives, a third mammal entered the room, dressed in a red tracksuit. Judy recognised him immediately as one of the bears that had essentially kidnapped her and Nick during the night howler case. Raymond Koslov. The group made their way to the large sofa on the other side of the table and sat. Koslov placed Mr Big on the table in front of him and sat back, not saying a word. In fact, none of the assembled mammals said anything.

"Raymond, Koslov, Mr Big," Nick started. "Thank you for meeting us, but I think this would be better if myself, Detective Hopps and Raymond spoke privately."

"It is good to see you again, Nicholas, but I'm afraid that would be impossible. I must request you wait until Kevin's legal representative is present," the shrew answered as he raised a paw for silence.

Judy glanced at Nick, who shrugged and took a breath to begin speaking again when a strange sound interrupted him. A repetitive 'tak tak' of a piece of wood gently hitting another. They both turned to the door just as another mammal entered, walking stick in one hand. It was an extremely elderly badger, slowly making his way into the room. He was impeccably dressed and carried a briefcase in his other hand. Judy wondered what the hell was going on until she remembered Nick mentioning an elderly badger lawyer, Clive Murray. When she realised who he was, she had a bad feeling about how this news was going to be taken. She turned to Nick, whose expression matched hers.

"Detectives," the badger said as he finally made it to the table, placing and opening his briefcase. "Let's not beat around the bush. If you have Kevin Koslov under arrest, I must make you aware of the fact that not allowing him to contact legal counsel is against the law. Depending on the situation, you could also make the case for a breaking of his mammal rights, which I assume we will be making that case. Now…"

"Wait wait wait," Nick cut in as Judy stared on in horror. How in the hell had they come to this conclusion? "Raymond, I think you've gotten the wrong idea…"

"You don't have to talk to him, Raymond, it is your right."

"Clive…"

"That's Mr Murray, Detective Wilde. I could cite you for indecent behaviour if you do not keep this strictly professional."

"Oh, God…" Nick muttered, covering his eyes.

"Interesting you should use that phrase. Did you know the old blasphemy laws were never released?"

"Kevin's dead. His body was found two days ago," Nick finally said, much to Judy's relief. She was worried she might have to physically restrain the badger to get him to shut up. Not that doing so would have made the situation any more awkward than it already was.

"Ah," the lawyer said as he gathered his notes. "I apologise for jumping to conclusions. I believe I am no longer needed," he said, exiting the room with his belongings. The soft 'tak tak' of his walking stick was much faster than it was previously. Judy turned back to Nick, who was staring straight ahead. She followed his gaze and saw Raymond, his face a picture of stunned, abject horror. Silent tears fell from his eyes, staining his white fur an unusual shade of yellow. He was completely silent.

After almost a full minute, Mr Big slid off his small chair and padded to the edge of the table, placing a paw on Raymond's knee. This was followed by a paw on the shoulder from the massive Koslov. Still, Raymond said nothing.

"I am sorry, Detectives," Mr Big stated. "I presumed your reason for being here was something else entirely and invited my legal representative. I am ashamed."

"It's fine, Mr Big," Nick said, still staring at the silent, bereaved bear, "I'm so sorry, Raymond, truly..."

"You must be wrong…" Raymond finally answered. "Not Kevin. He wouldn't be that stupid to get himself killed. You MUST be wrong," he said, pleading.

"He has been positively identified," Nick said sadly.

"Can't be!" Raymond practically shouted. "You have to get a member of the family to positively ID him, yes? Movies say this. Well, let's go and I can show you that this polar bear is NOT my brother!"

"That…isn't required," Nick corrected.

"Listen, you little pelt!" Raymond roared and began to stand up, but was immediately pressed back down into his seat by Koslov with a grunt.

"What my partner is saying, Raymond," Judy said before Nick could, deciding she couldn't let him shoulder the entire burden of telling an old friend bad news, "is that Kevin's body was too badly… _changed_ to visually identify him. We had to identify him by his tattoo and dental records."

"What?" the bear asked disbelievingly. "What happened to my brother, Nick?" he asked, turning to the more familiar face.

"He was found in the desert. The arid environment was not kind to his body. I'm so sorry, but I don't know how else to describe it. He was completely dried out and shrivelled," Nick finally answered.

Raymond looked like someone had shot him in the gut. Suddenly, his expression changed to absolute fury. "THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS!" he bellowed. He managed to push back from Kozlov and turned to the sofa, swiping at it with his claws and ripping it to shreds. Judy and Nicked visibly jumped back in their own seats as they watched the couch carnage. Koslov ran around and tried to restrain Raymond, but with little success. Eventually, the larger bear had enough and simply grabbed Raymond in a massive bear hug. Raymond snarled and thrashed, and while Koslov was having trouble, he still managed to restrain him. After a few more seconds, Raymond simply burst out into tears, placing his head on Koslov's massive shoulder.

"Koslov, please take Raymond somewhere private and watch over him. I'll handle the rest and see to the arrangements. I will take care of the funeral bills too, whatever he wants for his brother." Mr Big said. Judy looked down and was completely surprised to see the shrew hadn't even flinched during the entire display.

Koslov nodded and took the bawling Raymond out of a side door, pushing it open with his shoulder.

"My apologies, but I think you can understand his reaction," Mr Big said, turning back to the detectives. "When will the body be released for burial?" he asked.

Judy was a little surprised by his coldness. During their last encounter, he had been a very open and caring mammal. That being said, a lot of that had been because she had saved his daughter's life, and was helping to find a friend. Here and now, they could be coming very close to the illegal sides of his business. She wanted to dive in with a lot of questions, but knew Nick had a far better chance of getting him to talk.

"I'll have to check with our lab people to verify, but it shouldn't be much longer. I wouldn't like to miss something now and risk having to exhume the body later. For Raymond's sake," Nick said.

"Please do what you need to do, by all means. But the sooner his brother can be laid to rest properly, the sooner Raymond can begin mourning properly."

"That was quite a reaction," Judy said, adding a little more to the conversation. If she said nothing, it might be construed as disinterest.

"Perhaps, but an understandable one," Big replied. "I take it you are not familiar with polar bear burial rites, Detective?"

"Can't say that I am," Judy admitted.

"Well, as one who employs many of the species, I have made it my business to know. Those that follow the old traditions believe that the body must be laid to rest in the frozen earth. After death, a bear has to travel across the many levels of the afterlife to reach their paradise. These range from the harshest of frozen tundra to the hottest blistering desert. The journey is different for each mammal. Those who have led a blameless life have a short journey. Those with many sins to face may be travelling for years before resting."

 _Such as those who are at the beck and call of the most infamous crime boss in the city,_ Judy thought. Not that Big would have responded to that if she had said it out loud. She did ask though, "So, where does the frozen earth come into play?"

"Part of the belief is that the soul is tied to the body until it has completed its journey. As no mammal will know how long their journey is until death, burying the body in frozen ground preserves it for as long as possible, allowing plenty of time for their quest for rest."

"Wait…but what about accidents where the body is mutilated? And I know some bears are fine with cremation…"

"It's religion, Carrots," Nick interjected. "No one said it had to make sense."

"A somewhat dismissive but broadly correct point, Detective," Big said carefully. "Kevin and Raymond were brought up in a very religious household and follow these old ways. Whoever killed Kevin has essentially almost guaranteed he will never seek rest by burying him in such a way."

"No one actually said he was murdered," Nick pointed out.

"Of course, but unless Kevin somehow wandered off into the most inhospitable environment for a polar bear in the city, meteorologically speaking I mean, and buried himself, you can forgive me for jumping to conclusions," Big said.

"Fair enough," Nick said coolly. He hadn't expected to catch out the old mammal so easily, if at all, but it was always worth a shot. Of course, there was always the chance that he truly didn't know anything, but the way Raymond had reacted…

"I assume this is a murder investigation, yes?" Big asked, sapping Nick out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, but I can't really say at this stage," Nick said. "However, you may be able to help with a part of the investigation that may answer that question." He withdrew the envelope he had been carrying around in his coat. It was filled with various photos related to the case. He flicked through a few as Judy watched on and withdrew a still from the Inferno's security footage, the only one that showed all the mammals involved in the incident. The size and resolution of it had been increased slightly in an attempt to get a better look at the mammals who attacked Luther without distorting the image too much. "Do you know any of the mammals in this photo?" Nick asked, placing it on the table in front of Big.

The shrew hopped off the table and began walking around the photograph. "Could you hold it up for me?" he asked. Nick did so, holding it a little further away from the shrew, allowing him to view the full photo without having to physically walk on it. "I'm afraid I am unfamiliar with the mammals here. I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

"That's fine, perhaps we should speak to Raymond."

"As you wish, but I'm afraid he won't be much use today. Perhaps you can give him a day or two to mourn before bothering him with such things?"

 _And give you time to coach him on his responses_ , Nick thought. "It'd be preferable to speak to him as soon as possible, and in private. But yes, this is probably not the best time?" Nick asked, turning to Judy as he phrased the question.

Judy silent mused on the question, Nick having turned the statement into a question to see if he was missing anything they could work with here. Unfortunately, they couldn't force Raymond to talk to them. They could request it and he could decline, and if they suspected he was hiding information they may be able to bring him in for questioning under obstruction of justice…for which Clive would have him out of the precinct in about forty-five minutes, with a wrongful arrest as a special bonus. If they had any actual evidence of a connection to Kevin's death, that was a different matter. Even then, one had to be very careful with bereaved mammals.

"No, I don't think now would be the best time," she agreed. "But we will have to talk to him soon," she added. She withdrew one of the cards the MCU provided their detectives with and placed it on the table for Mr Big. "Please pass this along as soon as you can," she said and made to get up, Nick following suit.

"Just one thing," Nick said, stopping Judy in her tracks. She rolled her eyes and suppressed a groan. Nick had been slowly working on a list of detective clichés since starting the job. She knew what he was pulling now and restrained the urge to punch him for it. "What did Raymond mean by 'those fucking bastards?'"

Judy swore at that, looking back at her notes and scribbling it down. She'd heard Raymond roar the statement in anger, but while Nick had latched on to it, she never made a note of it. She turned back to Big as he started talking, swearing there was hardly a pause between Nick asking the question and his response.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Detective," Big answered. "You found the body in a rather unusual place. From your description, it is not likely Kevin buried himself in the sand, is it?"

"No. But nobody said he was buried either," Nick pointed out. Judy mentally replayed the conversation in her head, and couldn't remember Nick saying that Kevin had been buried. _Impressive, Slick._

"You're getting a little rusty with lack of practice, sir," said Nick, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm," Big replied. "Again, your words confuse me, Detective. If there is nothing else, may I attend to my friend in mourning?"

"Of course. No need to have your employees show us the way out. I remember the way," Nick said.

"Yes, but you were leaving at such great speed last time. Do not hesitate to do the same," Big said as he sat back in his chair. Just as he did so, Koslov returned. The huge bear simply nodded at Nick and Judy, picked up his boss and departed with no ceremony.

"Now we walk out as if we're not being kicked out," Nick whispered to Judy and took up his usual walking pace. They passed several polar bears on the way out, several more than they had seen on the way in. Though the pair was capable of taking on larger mammals, that relied on a one-on-one fight. Judy had to fight down the urge to run out of the mansion. No matter how brave you are, facing down over a dozen mammals ten times your size was not something to do lightly. Nick, meanwhile, was just casually waving to a few of them, calling out names and such.

After a few minutes, the detectives made their way back to their car. Nick waved goodbye to the door mammal and drove past Morris, who didn't even dignify them with a nod as he moved and replaced the chain.

After a few turns and silence, Nick pulled the car over. He checked the mirrors and looked behind them before turning to Judy. "OH GOD, I thought I was going to die of a stress-induced aneurysm back there!" he said, taking a deep breath. Judy followed suit and slumped in her chair. She knew it was stupid, but she hated being thought of as weak, even in front of Nick, who had seen her at her most vulnerable. She sometimes needed to be reminded it was OK to be scared. Surprisingly, it hadn't crossed her mind that one of those appropriate times was after walking out of the house of the most notorious crime boss in the city.

"You did well," she said after allowing herself a few more seconds to relax. "Now we know that Big knows something he isn't telling us."

Nick shrugged. "Well, we suspect anyway," he said. "You can bet your fluffy ass that Murray will make mincemeat out of those statements." He thought back to the conversation and shook his head. The questioning had all but confirmed it for Nick that Big knew something about Kevin's death, and on top of that, it appeared he may also know the mammals from the attack on the Inferno.

"Yeah, true," Judy replied. "There's not enough to confirm anything, but something's here. I know it…"

"Let's just keep in mind that we could be wrong," Nick reminded her. Though she never allowed herself to be blind to the possibilities of other answers, it could be hard to get her to take a new course of action sometimes. To be fair, he'd been guilty of it plenty of times himself. He knew they kept each other grounded, another reason they worked so well together, in and out of work.

"Fine, be a killjoy," Judy answered, laughing as she did so. "Come on, might as well get our reports for the day typed up. By the time we get back to the precinct, it'll only be a couple of hours till quitting time. We can grab an early dinner with Finnick. Not much point doing anything more today."

"Detective Hopps, not wanting to burn the midnight oil? How unlike you. Getting tired in your old age?" Nick teased.

"One, I'm eight years younger than you, and two…maybe I don't want all my stamina to be used up before we get home tonight?" she answered coyly, dropping her voice an octave.

"Ooooh, now that I can get behind…and on top of. And underneath," Nick smiled, turning the key in the ignition.

"That could have gone better," Big said as Koslov carried him to his office. Now that the detectives were gone and it was just the two of them, he could speak more openly and not lose his reputation of silent menace. "I can't believe Wilde got me to slip up, even if so minuscule," the mob boss replied. "Maybe I am losing my touch in my old age…"

Koslov said nothing. It was not his place.

"Bah! I should not say such things. It has been a very unfortunate day, that is all," Big said.

Reaching the large door to the office, Koslov opened it. The bear slightly paused in his walking as he stopped to enter the opulent den.

"Yes, poor Kevin. I'll start making preparations right away, though we'll need the ZPD to release his body of course," Big said as Koslov placed him down. Without a word said, Koslov opened one of the drawers and took out a small replica of the same desk, complete with a tiny writing pad, Rolodex, and wireless phone. He placed it in front of his boss, edging the shrew closer to the desk.

"Thank you, my old friend," Big said as he began sorting through the Rolodex. A younger mammal would have simply used a mobile phone, but Big liked to be a bit more analogue when he could. He pulled out a card for Emmitt Otterton, his favourite florist. A shame he seemed to be calling him for more funerals than happy occasions, but it had to be done. "Please keep an eye on dear Raymond Koslov. And when he has calmed down, bring him to me. I will have to remind him that despite his loss, I expect him to keep his mouth shut or face the consequences."

Koslov grunted an assent and went to leave. "Actually," Big said, causing the bear to stop. "Perhaps you should show him? It may be more effective…"

As an answer, Koslov smiled, then opened his mouth. The stump where his tongue once was glistened wetly in the light of the office.

* * *

Notes:

Been a Been a while huh.

A lot has happened in the last month. Stress at work, more hospital visits for my wife, including an overnight stay after she passed out. Then my grandfather had a heart attack (he's fine). All in all it was hard to have the energy to write. However I refuse to been one of those authors who never finishes there work.

Thanks to DrummerMax64 for the edits and proofing. Combat_Engineer never got back to me. I assuming he's doing something more important, but his help is appreciated when he can provide it.

Oh and that Rocky story? That's actually true. Dolph Lundgren punched Slyvester Stallone so hard doctors though he'd been hit by a car during filming of Rocky 3.

I am also way to proud of the animal name Rudolph Lundgren.


	8. Out and About

Dragon stared out of the hotel window admiring the view, glad they had managed to bring enough money with them to buy this spacious high rise apartment in Downtown Zootopia outright, even if it did take almost half of the money they had managed to escape with from Hong Kong to do so. It was far easier to hide when you paid in cash instead of squatting in a warehouse somewhere or trying to find a more crooked than usual landlord. He missed Hong Kong of course, but he had to admit Zootopia was a stunning sight at night. The sun had only set half an hour ago, but the city had millions of artificial ones, creating their own small galaxy. He groaned at the tired analogy but couldn't put the image out of his head. Of course, like all cities the bright lights hid a darker side, he himself was evidence of that. But one could be forgiven for forgetting that for a few minutes while staring at this view. He had only woken up fifteen minutes ago himself, the Triad's activities at night leading the group to adopt a nocturnal sleeping cycle. It was hitting him quite hard, but not as hard as others.

As if on cue, the sounds of rustling bedsheets caused him to look behind him. Jo Li had stirred in her sleep. She had joined him in his room and he hadn't objected to it, being pleasantly surprised that she hadn't left it till later in the evening. At first, their relationship had been an exciting taboo, but more and more he was considering it to be right. Hong Kong had been difficult to be public about it, the elderly population and the Chinese Government not liking anything that was considered 'abnormal.' Here in Zootopia, though, it seemed the population was far more relaxed about such things.

He looked back at his phone to the search he'd done on interspecies relationships in Zootopia, something he'd done several times since they had arrived. All the results contained conflicting opinions. For, against, ambivalent, it was all there, but the general consensus was that most people simply didn't care and got on with their lives. The exception seemed to be with this one rabbit and fox couple he'd found, a police duo who had apparently saved the city from some conspiracy or other, became partners on the police force, and then became romantic partners due to marry soon if the web results were correct. He smiled a little sadly at that. If they weren't police, he might have sought them out to ask them about their relationship, what challenges they had faced being a predator-prey couple. Although, that one was a bit of a grey area concerning himself. He was a bear…OK, technically he was a really big racoon and as such was considered a predator, but he was completely vegetarian by biology. Nobody seemed to take the fact he could beat a rhino to death barehanded when deciding taxonomies. He stretched languidly and winced slightly as the claw marks on his back complained. He had plenty of scars of course, but most of them hadn't been obtained during such pleasant times, so he smiled at the sharp stings.

A knock on the door caused him to turn, his body going rigid. He looked back at Jo Li who curled further into the bed. He considered waking her and getting her to hide in the closet, which was ridiculous. Firstly, it made it seem like he should be ashamed of her. Secondly, and more practically, she'd never fit. After a few seconds of silence, the knock continued, more urgently. This time, Jo Li did wake. She looked around and obviously had the same thought he had, looking towards the closet and sizing it up.

 _Enough of this_ , Dragon thought. "Just cover yourself a little please, my love," he said. Jo Li looked to him with a slight panic, but eventually her features set on a warm smile. She nodded, understanding what would happen next. "Enter," Dragon barked at the third knock. After a few brief seconds, the door opened, and Tai walked in.

"Dragon, I…wait, what the hell!?" Tai shouted, staring at the tigress in the bed. "I'm so sorry, Jo Li, I thought this was Dragon's room," the leopard explained, shielding his eyes.

Dragon chuckled. Despite being a career criminal, Tai was so bashful about some things. "It is," he said, causing the leopard to turn to him, to which it brought Dragon no end of amusement when Tai's features blanched further. Dragon had taken to sleeping naked lately. It saved a lot of time.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Tai yelled, which caused Dragon to laugh out loud. Deciding he'd given the poor bastard enough of a hard time, he walked over to the set of drawers and started dressing. By the time he'd put on some clothes, the flapping of wings and scampering of small feet had entered the room. The rest of his team, sans the Master, had come to see what all the shouting was about.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag finally," said Liu.

"I think you mean the cat's in the bed," Tran corrected, also covering his eyes despite the fact that Dragon was now dressed and Jo Li was still covered in the bed.

"Oh, those two are fuckin'?" Rogen asked, sliding his knives back into their scabbards. "I thought something important was happening. I'll take your shift watching the boss, Dragon. That's what Tai wanted," he said before turning and heading out of the room, going to the Master's private bedroom on the other side of the apartment.

"He's still asleep?" Dragon asked, worry in his voice.

"Can we talk about this when you're both dressed, please?" Tai asked, shuffling out of the room. "Come on, let them get ready," he ordered the two remaining mammals out, but not before Liu gave a thumbs up to the newly revealed couple just before the door was closed.

"Well that went better than expected, but I wish you'd asked me first," the tigress said, pulling herself up from the bed and starting to search for her clothes.

"I was sick of waiting, and doing it any other way would have been drawn out and awkward…well, _more_ awkward," Dragon answered, admiring the toned, naked muscle of his girlfriend. "Though you're right, and I apologise."

"I'm just glad they seemed mostly OK with it," Jo Li said as she found her underwear and began dressing. "But next time we have to tell someone, run it past me first, OK?"

"Who else is there to tell?" Dragon asked, shrugging. Both he and Jo Li were orphaned at a young age, though he had survived on the streets by himself for seven years before being inducted into the Jade Triad as a simple thug, climbing his way up the ranks rapidly due to his quick thinking and ability to knock out an elephant. Jo Li, meanwhile, had been with the group almost since she had been orphaned, so the only family they had left was those inside this apartment.

"The Master?" Jo Li asked as she finished dressing.

"We'll wait until he wakes up before worrying about that," Dragon replied. No sense in sweating over that until they had to. "I'm starving, want to get some breakfast?"

"You mean dinner. It's almost seven," Jo Li answered, holding up her own phone to show the time.

"Semantics. Do you want food or not?"

"Is that any way to ask someone out on a first date?" Jo Li teased.

"I think we're way past that point, don't you?" Dragon replied.

"Well yes, but it would be the first time we've gone anywhere in public together. So can't a girl have a little normalcy?" she asked as she stretched. Dragon couldn't help but smile.

"Fine. Hey, hot stuff? You? Me? And a bowl of noodles? Sound good?"

Jo Li couldn't help but laugh at that. "No wonder you were popular with all the girls with a charm like that," she said, walking over and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Nah, I save the best lines for the really gorgeous and smart ones," he said and kissed her.

"Flattery would get you back into my bed if I weren't starving. Come on. Let's see what Tai wants and then go get some food. I saw this nice little Chinese restaurant a few blocks away," she said, leading him to the bedroom door.

"Really? Don't want to try anything else? Zootopia has some of the finest food from around the world…or at least that's what they say on their tourism website," Dragon said.

"I…I miss home," Jo Li replied. Her demeanour had become timider, something she would have never allowed in front of anyone else but this panda she loved.

Dragon's features softened. She didn't even have to askagain. Besides, he was craving dumplings. He took her paw in hers and led her to the bedroom door. "OK then, let's see how badly these Zootopians can fuck up noodles."

* * *

"And then the ewe says she's on the lamb!" Finnick said before he and Nick exploded in laughter. Judy soon found herself following suit, even if it was an old joke. She was just glad Nick and him were on friendly terms again. She took a sip of the pint of Guinness she'd ordered with her meal, letting the thick alcoholic drink soothe her nerves. Today had been a long one despite only working their required hours, and she was glad for the company.

"One of these days Fin, you'll get a new joke," Nick said as the laughing subsided and he took a swig of his own beer.

"Hey fox, my stuff ages like fine wine," the fennec responded.

"Yeah, it turns to vinegar due to age," Judy said, not able to help herself. This bad joke caused another round of laughter, which was cut short when Xiong Macan, the large tiger, co-owner and head chef of the restaurant wandered over, along with his wife Sarah, the other owner and manager of the restaurant. She sometimes helped out during dinner service when she wasn't poring over invoices or sorting out logistical issues.

"Well, I take it by the sounds of laughter your meal was enjoyable?" Xiong asked as he started clearing the plates.

"As always," Nick said, complimenting the couple. "Don't know how you manage it."

"A combination of a great chef and a well-stocked and organised kitchen," Sarah replied, raising an eyebrow at her husband who chuckled then nodded in agreement.

"Suppose I better pay the bill," Finnick said and went for his wallet.

"Your money's no good here, Mr Finnick. Long as you're with Nick and Judy, you eat for free. Would you care for dessert?"

"Give us a few minutes and we might take you up on that," Nick answered. "By the way, where's Tyler?"

"It's a school night, he's upstairs doing his homework," Sarah answered, taking Finnick's empty glass from the table. "One more coming up," she said before he could reply. Xiong nodded and followed her, taking the empty plates of the only other customer in the restaurant. It was early on a Tuesday night, so they rarely would have much business until later.

"The hell was that all about?" Finnick said, a low growl in his voice.

"Remember the kid we pulled out of the sewer last year when Nick proposed?" Judy asked. Finnick simply nodded. "That was Tyler Macan, their son," Nick said, pointing over his shoulder to the retreating backs of the restaurateurs. "Since then they show their gratitude by refusing to allow us to pay for any meals here. We try not to take advantage too much…"

"Just when you have a friend who you think can't pay for a meal," Finnick said, anger and embarrassment showing on his features.

"Now you cut that out…" Nick said, his voice rasing.

"Knock it off you two, you just made up," Judy said before things escalated further. She'd seen enough macho posturing by her rowdier brothers and sisters at home to know if she didn't intervene, a fight would likely ensue. She doubted Xiong's goodwill would extend to having a brawl in his restaurant and home.

Finnick went to say something, But a look in Judy's eyes caused him to pause. "Fine, but I don't like being treated as a charity case, Wilde," he said, turning to Nick.

"Fin, he does it for any one of our friends we come with," Nick answered.

"Yeah, but you were the one who suggested this place," Finn pointed out, crossing his arms.

"OK fine, you got me there," Nick admitted. "But you're not a charity case, Fin, you're my friend."

"And in all fairness, I didn't argue the point," Judy said, showing solidarity with her fiancé. She hadn't thought of how Fin would take this either. He may be small in stature, but he was a proud fox.

"Hmmph," Finnick grunted, his arms still folded. Before they could say anything else, Nick's phone began to ring. He picked it up off the table and stared at the screen. "Huh, it's Harry, might be letting us know how Luther is doing. D'you mind if I take this?" he asked Judy and Finnick. Neither objected, so he stepped out of their shared booth.

"Honestly Fin, we didn't mean anything by the free meal," Judy said as Nick walked out of the restaurant.

"Yeah, whatever," Finnick grumbled, sinking back in his seat. Judy sighed as the awkward silence settled in.

"Go wild with Wilde," Nick said, answering his phone as he walked into the evening air.

"Seriously Nick. Get a new phone greeting," said Harry on the other end of the line.

"I will when that stops being cool," Nick answered. "So, is there a reason for this call or did you just want to insult my sense of style?"

"Luther's awake and feeling up to talk. Just thought I should let you know."

"Thanks, Harry. Judy and I will be right over," Nick said, though cursed the fact he did. He'd been hoping to have another couple of beers tonight before he and Judy retired for an early night that would have little to do with sleeping.

"Yeah, well, I'd feel better if you did soon. Now that your guys have finished searching my place for evidence I gotta get it ready to re-open. I can pay the staff out of my savings only for so long, after all. And I can't do that until I find a temporary head of security."

"Surely all those bears and rhinos you have are more than capable of keeping some boozy drunks in line?" Nick asked.

"You know how it is with big mammals. They're always a little bit afraid of hurting the smaller ones, and that causes them to hesitate when stepping in."

Nick nodded, not that Harry could see it. Even in the police force, he saw that happen on a regular basis. When someone like Francine or McHorn stepped into a fight involving smaller mammals, they always ended up doing so as if on tenterhooks. This was fair enough in a simple fight, but Nick would hear stories of bigger animals being too careful and letting crooks get away. Then he remembered the story that Fangmeyer had told about her father. The old tiger didn't use enough force when taking down a ram and lost half a foot when the perp used that hesitation to get a shotgun round off. _Thank God for 'Injured in the Line of Duty' bonuses for pensions,_ Nick thought. "You could never accuse Luther of hesitating, that's for sure," he said aloud.

"Never one for thinking things through, you mean," Harry said, chuckling. "Thing is, if I open without him, the bigger guys will start being more hesitant, which will encourage the wrong sort of behaviour, which means I'll lose employees. A titty bar with no titties might be ironic, but it ain't profitable."

"I'm fairly sure that's just false advertising rather than ironic," Nick said. A thought struck him. "Hey, what if I told you I know a guy who would probably be able to step in on short notice…as long as there's money."

"If they can do the job they'll get the same pay as Luther. Who is it?"

"You remember Finnick?"

"Oh fuck off, Nick, not that pint-sized psycho! The last time he was here Luther had to throw him out for threatening to slice someone's arm off with a broken bottle!"

"If I recall, the person he threatened had just picked the pockets of five of your other customers before trying it on Finnick. And the pickpocketer was an elephant too. Those trunks are dexterous, aren't they? So there you go, he's not afraid of big mammals. I swear he's calmed down… _somewhat_ since then too."

"Yeah, he always had a short fuse."

"Yeah, yeah, the jokes aside, I vouch for him. Plus, where can you get someone else on short notice?" Nick asked.

The phone went silent as Harry mulled the idea over. "Fine. Tell him to come over tomorrow at around eight. We'll do a quick interview and trial by fire. But if he screws up, you're paying for the damage."

"He'll be a regular Junior Ranger Scout," Nick said.

"I'll believe that when I see it. I'll let Luther know you're on your way," Harry said, ending the call.

"Such bad manners," Nick said as he walked back into the restaurant. He walked back to the booth and noticed the sullen silence, Finnick having taken out his phone while Judy nursed her drink. "That'll have to be the last one for you tonight, Carrots, we got work to do."

"Hmm?" Judy said, ears perking up. She was secretly glad, the last few minutes of awkward, angry silence was not pleasant.

"Luther's awake and wants to talk. I figure we go and get his statement before heading home?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Judy said, slightly faster than was polite.

"Yeah, you guys go get your overtime pay..." Finnick grumbled.

"As for you," Nick said, letting the jibe go, "have I got some good news for you."

"Unless it's getting paid for watching naked mammals, I'm not interested."

"Funny you should say that…"

A few minutes later, the trio of mammals left the restaurant. Nick and Judy headed for their car, while Finnick jumped in his van, a certain spring in his step.

If they had only stayed a little bit longer, they might have prevented at least one death. Because at that moment, Dragon and Jo Li turned the corner and entered the restaurant.

* * *

Notes:

Thanks again to DrummerMax64 got his edits and proofing.


	9. Relations

"OK, I admit I was wrong. Zootopians can do a decent bowl of noodles," Dragon said as he walked down the street, patting his stomach. While he'd had better-tasting meals, he had to admit the homestyle cooking of the Smiling Tiger was damn good. Somewhere in the top ten restaurants he'd eaten at. It also reminded him of the food he'd had when he worked for Mr Ping as a kid. He missed the old fart, but when you don't pay your protection payments to the local Triads, examples were made. The firebomb made sure of that.

"And that kid was super cute. His parents were so friendly," Jo Li added, looking at the picture on her phone. Since the restaurant wasn't very busy, the owners had come over to see how things were going. It turned out Mr Macan had actually been born in Hong Kong. This had initially confused the tigress, so she asked the little cub about his family. She learned that his mother was born in Hong Kong, while his father was originally from Indonesia. Mr Macan moved to Hong Kong for work, fell in love with his future wife, and then they moved to Zootopia when Xiong was a cub. Jo Li shared a few of her earlier happy memories of Hong Kong, even finding out they had both played in the same park when they were young. When Xiong asked about her life past that point, she quickly changed the subject. After all, she didn't want to traumatise his son. But when he had asked for a picture with them, she and Dragon agreed.

"And you were right, they're really accepting of interspecies relationships," Dragon pointed out, looking at his girlfriend. Due to his bulk, he was slightly larger than the average panda. She was slightly shorter than the average tigress, which meant they could look each other in the eye without having to raise their heads.

"Told you," Jo Li said, and in the spur of the moment, she grabbed his paw as they walked down the street in full view of everyone. Dragon's initial reaction was to try and pull away, but the resistance he met stopped him. He relaxed and gripped her paw back.

"Yeah, didn't he say we just missed another interspecies couple? Would have been nice to chat with them," he said.

"And you don't think that would have been awkward? Two criminals chatting with the police?"

"What, you think it would have been that couple I was telling you about? Come on. The chances of that are…"

"About as likely as a fox and rabbit getting together?" Jo Li pointed out. Dragon thought for a second and nodded, conceding the point.

They walked in silence for a while, deciding to take the scenic route back to the hotel and walk through a nearby park. The sun had set hours ago, but the artificial lights of the city were more than adequate to compensate. Even if they weren't familiar with their surroundings, the lovers had grown up on the darkest streets of Hong Kong. True, Zootopia wasn't their home, but it was a colossal city and they felt as comfortable in it as possible.

The thing is, to some people, the words "vulnerable" and "comfortable" were more than just words that rhymed. As the two walked hand in hand past a less than adequately maintained public restroom, two rhinos stepped from behind the corner and blocked their path.

"Well lookie here Clyde, got some lovebirds…" the first rhino, a long-horned African variant with various tattoos over his bare chest, began to say. Before he could finish, though, Jo Li launched herself at the tattooed thug, spinning in the air to increase her momentum, and struck him on the side of the head. He staggered backwards, stunned but not down. Nothing short of a sledgehammer could knock a rhino off their feet. Jo Li didn't have such a luxury.

She did have a set of razor-sharp claws, however.

In the few seconds she had after that surprise manoeuvre, Jo Li leapt at her target, drew back her right paw and slashed him fully across his eyes. The rhino bellowed in pain and brought his hands up to his face, trying to protect himself from another swipe. Jo Li, however, wasn't in front of him. After the swipe, she'd gotten behind her attempted mugger and had kicked a large trash can over behind him. The rhino fell over it, slamming into the ground with a heavy thud.

During all of this, Dragon had simply stood back and watched Jo Li work. He knew better than to help her unless she asked for it. Besides, this was an old attack pattern they'd used before, so he knew exactly where he was needed. He looked the other rhino over. He was a larger, short-horned Indian genus, and he was currently gawping at his fallen friend.

"KEITH!" he finally yelled, and he made to charge at Jo Li. He had no hope of hitting her. His reactions were slow and laborious, but Dragon needed to put him in the correct position for this tactic to work. Dragon bellowed and charged at the rhino, who turned to meet an oversized paw slamming into the side of his head, followed by three more, moving at such a rapid speed that there should be no way a mammal as big as Dragon could move that fast, or with such concussive force. More blows hit the rhino in the stomach, causing him to double over as the air left his lungs, just as Dragon wanted. He grabbed the rhino's lowered head by the ears and forced it down, raising his knee up to the rhino's chin at the same time.

Dragon felt his knee connect, and he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to simply grunt rather than cry out. Any harder and he would have broken his kneecap on the rhino's hide. A lifetime of broken bones had taught him what his limits were, and this wasn't the type of fight where he needed to break a bone to win.

The blow didn't knock the rhino out, of course, but it did make him stagger backwards just enough for Jo Li to land a glanced hit on the back of his knee, causing him to fall backwards…and impale his left shoulder on his friend's horn.

As the still conscious rhino screamed in pain, frantically trying to reach for his phone to call for help, the couple continued on their walk unmolested.

* * *

"So, they were after Big?" Nick asked Luther, who was now sitting upright. He was still in a lot of pain, but he was far more lucid than their previous meeting.

"Seems like it," Luther replied in between gulps of meat and fries. He'd woken up famished, and though they had a meal ready for him, the hospital staff hadn't objected when Kyle ran out to grab a chicken burger meal from the nearby fast food restaurant. Because of how voraciously he was eating, some of the prey staff were giving him as wide a berth as possible without appearing rude.

Meanwhile, Harry had left to go get the club cleaned up and ready for reopening, leaving a now sleeping Kyle curled up in a chair at his brother's side. The badger kept looking over to the platypus occasionally as if he was the one in the hospital bed. Or as best as he could do with one eye still covered by a patch.

"What do you mean 'seems like it?'" Judy asked. She knew she'd get a sarcastic answer, but talking to Luther was all about patience, according to Nick. He'd never lie to you, but he had a habit of answering questions with a combination of sarcasm, glib jokes, and attempts at pointing out flaws in other people. And that was if he was talking to someone he _liked_.

"Well, the fact they kept asking where Big was as they kicked the shit out of me was the first clue," Luther said, eliciting a sigh from Judy. He wasn't being hostile or anything like that, just a bit of an asshole. Still, she'd had worse questioning sessions. The time that buck kept hitting on her while she was asking questions about devising the plan for his brother's murder had her secretly hoping he was the guilty party. She was a little annoyed to find out it was the wife instead, though that was because she was sleeping with the victim, who was going to tell him about the affair. After an hour in the interview room with him, Judy could understand why.

"Yes, very glib," she said, rolling her eyes, which got a smirk from the badger. "But yes, they kept asking about it. I told them the place had been bought off the original owner years ago, and that I didn't even know it had been Big to begin with. That just made them angrier."

"Surprised you told them anything at all. Would've pegged you for one of those 'name, rank, and serial number' kinda guys, what with your army training and all," Judy said.

"Since I knew they weren't looking for anyone I gave a shit about, might as well save myself a kicking. Didn't work though, obviously," Luther replied, gesturing to himself and causing a twinge of pain that made him let out a small yelp.

"Makes sense," Nick replied, taking down some notes. He knew Judy was recording the interview as well, but the two detectives liked to have things written down. The act seemed to help them with remembering facts even if they never looked at them again, which was handy considering Judy's handwriting. "I think we have everything we need unless you can think of anything else that was said?"

"Not really, sorry. My memory is a little fuzzy on some of this stuff," Luther replied.

"It's understandable," Nick said, nodding. "What do you think Carrots, got everything we need?"

"For now, I think so," Judy said, stopping the recording. "If we need anything else we'll know where to find you."

"Before you go…can…can you do me a favour?" Luther asked hesitantly.

"Of course Luther, whether or not we can do anything is another matter entirely," Nick said before Judy could say anything. Nick knew the badger a lot better than her, but she had a feeling that Luther asking for help with anything was a rare occurrence.

"Could you take Kyle home to my place? I know he's been staying with Harry, but well, most of his clothes and stuff he shipped over is there. He didn't want to say anything to Harry, but he'd rather get settled in before he has to start his job next week. I got a key in my trouser pockets."

"It's a bit out of our way, but…" Nick started.

"We can take him, no problem," Judy interrupted.

"Thanks," Luther said, acknowledging the rabbit. "I appreciate it. He needs to be somewhere familiar, not sleeping on a stranger's couch."

"And somewhere where all his clean clothes are?" Nick asked as he rummaged in Luther's jeans for the key.

"You joke, but yes, dude needs a fresh set of clothes. I think he's on stage four of his current set of underwear."

"Oh, THAT explains the smell," Nick said, sniffing slightly.

"Stage four?" Judy asked, confused.

"Back to front and inside out," Nick answered, letting the silence fill the air as Judy figured out what he was talking about.

"That's disgusting," she said, trying not to vomit.

"Lazy bachelor living, Fluff, especially when money's tight for laundry," Nick said, smiling. Before Judy could say anything else, a sound from the chair next to Luther's bed made them turn to see Kyle trying to get comfortable.

"Come on kid, let's get you to a real bed," Nick said, attempting to wake the platypus. After several false starts that ended with Luther tossing his fast food bag at his brother, Kyle was brought up to speed and said his goodbyes.

"I'll be back tomorrow, yeah?" Kyle said as he hugged Luther.

"Jesus Christ, bruv, get plenty of sleep and come by in the afternoon. And change your fucking clothes."

"What? I've still got one more day left on the underwear…"

"Wait…how? Actually, no, don't answer that," Luther replied, giving his brother a light shove. "Get outta here."

"Fine, fine. Love you, bruv."

"Love you too."

With that, Kyle made his way out of the room. Judy smiled at Luther as she hopped off her chair, followed closely by Nick, who gave a lazy two-finger salute to his friend. The badger gave him a very enthusiastic one-finger salute in return.

"Get everything you need?" a voice asked to Nick's left as he closed the door. He turned and smiled up at Officer Bhrast Akela, who was on guard duty again with her partner Kelsey tonight.

"For now anyway," he answered. He looked around. "Hey, where's Kelsey…and Judy for that matter?" he asked, seeing Kyle getting a drink from a nearby vending machine.

"Not a clue," Bhrast answered, shrugging. "Judy saw Kelsey being in a mood and asked to talk to her in private.

"Oh boy," Nick muttered, rolling his eyes. Knowing Judy, she was probably trying to get Kelsey to make peace with Bhrast applying for the detective position.

"Yeah. It'll be funny because we already sorted things out between us," Bhrast said, smiling.

For once, Nick had no response to that. After a few more seconds, he saw Kelsey turn the corner, followed by a rather embarrassed-looking Judy. "We should get going!" his fiancée said, just a little bit too loudly. "Thanks for the, uh, makeup tips, Kelsey," she finished, waving to the cheetah, who wasn't even trying to hide her smirk.

Nick decided to let things lie for the moment, but he knew he couldn't resist saying something. For Judy's sake, though, he'd wait until they got Kyle home.

The ride to Luther's home was uneventful and quiet, mainly because Kyle was knocked out in the back seat and the detectives didn't want to disturb him. Eventually, they managed to get him to the apartment and said their farewells, giving him their contact info if he needed anything.

"Should we head back to the station?" Nick asked, checking the time. Almost 11 pm.

"I think we put in enough overtime for today," Judy responded. She'd been verbally blasted by both Bogo and Captain Vines for burning the midnight oil and exhausting her partner before. Besides, she was dead tired herself. "Bed?"

"With you, always," Nick replied as Judy took the wheel and headed towards their home.

"So, how did your chat with Kelsey go? Makeup tips, right?" Nick asked.

"Uh, yep, all good!" Judy said a little too quickly.

"Huh. That's interesting and all, since you never wear makeup," Nick said, lying back in his seat.

"Well, that's why I was asking!"

"And neither does Kelsey, I notice."

Silence filled the car as Judy stared straight ahead at the road.

"It's a good thing you're a great cop Judy because you're a terrible liar."

* * *

Notes:

So, over two months with no updates, the reason being that my wife FINALLY got the hysterectomy surgery she'd been needing for the last three years. She had seven tumours removed in all, and the biggest was eighteen centimetres, the others varying in size from twelve to four.

For reference for the American readers, a softball is twelve centimetres in diameter.

Yeah.

So, I've been taking care of her while also going to therapy. She's much better now. Not fully recovered, but able to move a lot more on her own. So here we are, back with writing. Hopefully, the next update won't be so long.

Thanks again to DrummerMax64 for the proofing.


	10. Mob Mentality

"Those guys are lucky to be alive," Judy said as they walked through the corridors of St Matthias hospital where they had interviewed two rhino assault victims. Well, 'victims' was maybe not 100% accurate. The two were known gang members who had served time for assault and mugging before. It just so happened they were in the park minding their own business ( _yeah, right_ ) and were assaulted by a panda and tigress. Normally, it would've looked like they had gotten what they deserved and would subsequently be arrested due to a few outstanding warrants. However, the brighter of the two thugs had managed to snap a nice clear photo of their attackers.

"Maybe…" Nick trailed off, thinking on the subject.

"What do you mean maybe?" Judy asked. "I hope you're not trying to convince me they were zombies. I'll only fall for that trick once, Nick. And it still wasn't funny."

"One, my Halloween prank was hilarious. Two, no, that's not what I'm getting at," he answered. "I mean, apart from our unfortunate polar bear, these guys haven't killed a single person, if they've even done that."

"Not for lack of trying with Luther," Judy pointed out.

"True, but that was because they thought he had something they wanted. It was business. These two rhinos? They were just in their way. Their deaths would not have benefited them. It reminds me of how Big and his crew operate. They use violence and intimidation, sure, but only if it furthers their enterprise."

"That would suggest not only are these guys part of a gang, but it's a very well organised and disciplined one. So your thinking is they may, in fact, be another criminal syndicate? Because killing those rhinos would not have benefited them?" Judy asked. It had a certain, twisted logic about it.

"Maybe? It's just a theory, but it would make sense. Plus, the fact they haven't come after Luther again, despite him being a witness? It probably means they've weighed the pros and cons."

"So how does this link in with our polar bear?" Judy asked.

"Power move? Showing the Big mob these guys can dish out the punishment? Maybe a deal was attempted, and it went bad?"

"They also said they spoke with an Asian accent," Judy recalled, flipping through her notes. "Might be worth running this picture through the Interpol database, you think? See if anything comes up."

"Might as well," Nick said, shrugging. "Wanna do that after we get a bite to eat? It's time for our lunch break anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Judy answered.

"I'm up for it too!" a familiar voice piped up, and both mammals turned to see a blue-haired, older vixen exit the hospital, looking tired but perky. Nick smiled wide in recognition at his second favourite female in the world.

"Mom!" he greeted before grabbing Carmelita Wilde in a big hug. "What are you doing here?" he asked after releasing her.

"Oh, I had an appointment with the doctor, Mijo!"

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Nick questioned, grabbing his mother for another hug.

"Because you have enough stress in your life with your new job to take your doddering Madre to an appointment, as well as keeping a certain young bunny in line," she replied, throwing a wink Judy's way. "Good to see you again, Mija," she said as she bent down and picked up Judy in a warm hug.

Judy tried not to sigh, as this always embarrassed her, but she could never find the voice to tell Carmelita to stop. "Good to see you too, Carmelita," Judy said after her feet touched the ground.

"You can call me Mom too ya know," Carmelita responded.

"I know, you keep saying," Judy said, shaking her head in amusement. She loved Carmelita, but she could be a bit much at times. That said, she had been depressed for months due to her cancer scare, so Judy could forgive her larger-than-life attitude.

"I'll get you to do it one day, Mija," Carmelita asserted, brushing some errant bunny fur off her brown leather jacket.

"Wait," Nick cut in as he got a good look at his mother's face. She had slightly darker fur under her eyes, and it glistened. "Mom, have you been crying?" he asked. He sniffed her, detecting the faint trace of tears. "Mom, what was this appointment about?" he asked, panic rising in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Nicholas," Carmelita answered, a few new tears joining those that had wet her fur. "The doctor called me because he got my results for the last round of tests I was in. He offered to give them over the phone, but I wanted to see him in person…"

"Mom, why didn't you tell me!?" Nick said, trying hard not to panic for his mother's sake. Judy placed her paw on his arm, letting him know she was there for whatever would happen.

"I'm sorry Mijo, I just couldn't bear to see your face if it was bad news. However…" she said, but stopped herself. She took a deep breath and dried her eyes. "I'm so happy I get to tell you now rather than waiting." She paused again, drawing out the suspense. "Complete remission. I am officially 100% cancer free."

Nick didn't react for a few seconds, his brain apparently wanting to make sure it understood the full meaning of those words. Without warning, he let out a high-pitched howl of excitement, grabbed his mother up in a hug and literally twirled around with her as onlookers stared on, wondering what the commotion was about. Judy began to cry for joy at the good news, but was surprised when Nick, holding his mother in one arm, picked her up on his second twirl in his free hand and spun both females around twice more, laughing all the time.

Eventually, Carmelita got Nick to stop before the two females got queasy from all the spinning. He placed both of them on the ground, hugging them all the while. When the world stopped spinning for Judy, she saw that Nick also had tear streaks under his eyes, matching his mother's almost perfectly.

Nick seemed at a loss for words from the good news, so Judy took it upon herself to break the silence. "That is so wonderful, Carmelita! Please tell me we're going to celebrate!"

"Oh no, I'm saving my celebration for your wedding. I warn you, I'm gonna celebrate so hard at that you may wish I was dead!" Carmelita replied, laughing hysterically at her own joke.

"Jesus Christ, Mom," Nick said, covering his eyes but not hiding his smile.

"OK, maybe not that bad, but it might be worth booking myself a hotel room to sleep it off," Carmelita responded, her laugh subsiding. "Sorry, you two. I guess it's still a bit of a relief."

"We know, Mom," Nick said. He hugged his mother and Judy once again.

"Oh, look at me," Carmelita said as she broke the hug and wiped another tear. "Now someone said something about food? My treat!" she said before grabbing Nick's and Judy's arms. She started walking down the street, trying to pick out a restaurant. She spotted one ahead that caught her eye, an Italian café that seemed perfectly suited for a long, relaxing lunch break. Both younger mammals tried to slow her down.

"Hey Mom, as much as I'd love to, we can't take too long. We're working a case right now. That's why we were at the hospital."

"Oh nonsense, you can't make time for an extended lunch break with your cancer-free mother?"

"Ouch, work the guilt angle why don't you."

"Oh shush Nicholas, you know I didn't mean to."

"It's OK, Nick," Judy said as they were about to enter the restaurant, not wanting her mate to worry. "I'll call and square it with Vines." With that, she detached herself from her foxes and gestured them to go inside so she could make the call in relative peace, and so Nick couldn't object. After they entered and she saw them being greeted by a waitress, Judy got her phone out and dialled the captain's mobile phone.

"Vines," her superior said as he answered. He sounded annoyed and far too busy. _Got him in one of his good moods._

"Captain, Hopps here."

"I know, Detective, your name comes up on my phone. You finished interviewing those rhino thugs?" he asked, having been made aware of the lead before they even left the precinct.

"Yes sir, just about to go on our lunch break."

"Hopps, you don't have to tell me every time you take a break, remember?" Vines said. Judy could literally picture him rolling his eyes as he said that. After clocking way too much overtime in their first few weeks as detectives, which exhausted her and Nick, Judy had taken to informing Vines every time they went on and came back from breaks. It had lasted for two weeks before Vines had told her in no uncertain terms that if she continued to do this, he would personally shove her foot into her mouth.

"I know sir, it's not that. I just want to let you know Nick and I will be taking an extended break," she said, fairly certain she knew he'd be fine with it.

"Oh? And what makes you think you can do such a thing, Hopps? I don't pay you to you can eat for however long you feel like it. FRED FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EITHER ASK YOUR QUESTION OR LEAVE MY OFFICE!" the wolf barked, obviously being irritated by another one of the detectives.

"Oh, well it's just that we ran into Nick's mother at the hospital, and she just got some good news from her cancer screening results. Complete remission," Judy said with more uncertainty. Vines's moods were usually predictable, but he sometimes threw a curveball to keep his squad on their toes.

A few seconds of silence followed, and when Vines answered his voice was much less antagonistic. "Ah. Well, I think we can allow for that," he said. Judy guessed he was most likely smiling. Nick had let Captain Vines know about his mother's health, as well as his father's death at the hands of the same disease. Their superior had told Nick about his mother's own battle with the disease, which she had unfortunately lost. "Take the afternoon off," he added.

"Really, sir?" Judy questioned, surprised by the action.

"Don't question it, Hopps. Just do it," he responded tersely, obviously not wanting to take no for an answer.

"That's very kind of you, sir, but we got a picture of the suspects and they seem to match the destination given by Luther Hill, as well as the security camera footage. Now we've got a much better look at their faces. We also got word that they were speaking with Asian accents, though going by our rhino's word, they couldn't tell if they were talking in Japanese, Korean, or China. So, we were gonna try looking up anything matching them in the Interpol database."

"Hmm," Vines said, considering what to do. "Tell you what Hopps, can you email that picture to Sally and Angua? Their RICO case is on pause for a day or two while the forensic accountants are working on some of their suspects, so they've not got much to do right now. They can have a look at that."

"But sir, what about the whole thing of keeping Internal Affairs in the loop…"

"I'll square it with Bagheera, don't you worry. Take the afternoon, Hopps, that's an order." Vine said with finality and immediately began shouting the names of the two detectives who he was assigning the work to, telling them to get into his office. "If there's any developments today we'll let you know. Now go enjoy your afternoon." With that, the wolf ended the call, stunning Judy slightly. It seemed their common tragedy meant Vines was more than prepared to let Nick celebrate his mother's victory over the disease. Perhaps he saw it as a minor victory for himself too? Whatever the case, she shrugged and pocketed her phone, heading into the restaurant to join her fiancé and soon to be mother-in-law.

* * *

"So, you have nothing?" Mr Big asked the bears gathered in front of him, his voice calm and collected. If you didn't know the Mafioso, you'd be forgiven for being completely confused by the way several polar bears (the largest predatory species on the planet) shrunk back in fear.

If you did know him, you'd be wondering why they hadn't bolted from the room by now.

Not that it would do them much good. Big had eyes and ears everywhere, which was why he was so vexed by the fact not one of the bears cowering in front of him had any information. Of course, he didn't just have bears on his payroll. He had dozens of mammals of all shapes and genus working in pretty much every part of the city. However, they all reported to the mammals in front of him, and they had nothing.

 _Vexing_ , he thought _. I have underestimated these mammals if they could kill one of my own and hide from me for this long._ He wondered if he had made an error in his dealings with them, they were obviously far more resourceful than their low station made them seem. Of course, it was a tragedy for any business associate/ally to have fallen on hard times, but to have the gall to try and set up a new crime family in HIS city after being chased out of theirs? Insulting. Seeing things as they were now? Perhaps he should have made a counteroffer. But it was too late to dwell on past mistakes now. What's done is done. Now he had to deal with it.

 _But now..._ he thought, considering his options. He knew the ZPD was on the case and wondered if he could maybe use some of his contacts in the ZPD. No, that wouldn't be possible. While he did have some members of the ZPD on the payroll, they were, at best, sergeants. He hadn't managed to get his fingers on any of the detectives, and certainly no one at Precinct 1 where the MCU was based. Of course, there was always Nicholas and Judith…

He shook his head at the thought. For one, while he had a lot of dirt on Nicholas, he was 100% certain the fox had made his superiors aware of his past misdeeds. Frankly, none of it added up to much more than petty cons, the biggest amounting to a few thousand dollars from even more crooked individuals, so he couldn't blackmail him with that. In the past, he may have simply been able to buy the fox's loyalty, but after keeping him under observation, he was convinced that would be a waste of time. A certain bunny had seen to that.

As for the aforementioned rabbit, Big didn't even bother to waste time on bribing her. Not only would that be ineffective, he was pretty sure whatever mammal he sent to deliver the offer would see the inside of a holding cell within minutes.

 _Perhaps I could kidnap one to force the other to help?_ he considered. But again, no. Seeing them together, it was obvious that if he used one to coerce the other, he was just going to start a revenge-filled rampage reminiscent of a Hollywoof action movie. Plus, he was positive Fru Fru would never forgive him if her child's godmother got hurt in any way.

 _Well, at least she and her family are on vacation away from this unpleasantness right now, well away from the danger. Thank God for small miracles._ At least he didn't have to worry about their safety.

He was starting to consider if he should just let Raymond run around the city on a blood-soaked rampage of his own to draw the Triads out of their hole when a door to his side open. Koslov walked through, leading the aged badger lawyer, Clive Murray.

"Can this not wait, my friend?" Big said to the badger. He didn't want to simply dismiss the badger, but he was dealing with non-legal matters, and part of Clive's usefulness was, while he was aware of what Big was and did, his lack of attendance during certain meetings, so he could completely and truthfully answer that he was not aware of why a mammal had disappeared. Oh, he _knew_ , but if asked he could legitimately say "no, I do not know where Mr Walker" is, despite being in the room with said mammal and leaving said room long before the torture started. Seeing the last place someone was alive and knowing where they had been killed were two entirely distinct things.

"Pardon the intrusion, sir," Murray said as Koslov closed the door, "but I feel you may need to be aware of this." He placed some papers on the large desk Big's chair was sat on. The shrew got up and walked over to them, giving them a cursory scan.

After a few seconds, Big finally said, "I apologise if this sounds like you are trying my patience, old friend, but this just looks like the contract for the deed to an apartment sold via one of our legitimate real estate ventures. Although, with it being a penthouse, the sales price is impressive." Big had many legitimate ventures on the go – some were simply to launder money, others helped sell the lie of where he made his real revenue from, but they were still run to the letter of the law. Hell, at this point, the crime boss wasn't sure exactly how much of his business came from the reputable part of his empire. Most of the employees would have been surprised to learn their pay came from the same corporate accounts that the drug business used to launder its earnings.

"That is indeed what it is. And now I shall take my leave," Clive said and left the room. Big opened his mouth to stop the badger, but a pointed nod from Koslov back to the paperwork gave him pause. _Of course,_ he thought, realising that Murray must have something for him here, but to such a degree that it would interfere with his legal business if he stayed. The shrew turned back to the paperwork and studied it more carefully. After some time, he saw some pertinent information. The whole apartment had been paid for in cash. NOBODY paid in cash anymore, unless they didn't want to leave a paper trail. Of course, with a legitimate property business, that was impossible. He studied the name at the top of the deed, reading it as Po Ping…not a common name even for the mammals in Chinatown, and this was in the southern part of Downtown. Easy access to all parts of the city, and very upmarket. Barely any crime, aside from that which generally occurred in the Docks a few blocks away.

And it was also just directly off a main route of the city roadways. In fact, if you started in Tundratown, one of the most direct routes was to go through Sahara Square.

"Clive, you have earned yourself a bonus," Big said aloud. He brought his head up to the still cowering bears, pointing to Alan, one of the under-bosses in charge of their dealings in Downtown. "Get one of our Downtown boys to stake this address out. Hell, bribe the door-mammal if you must! I need to know if our targets are in fact the ones who bought this penthouse. Once they have some information, you get that information as soon as possible. Understand?" The selected bear nodded and bustled out of the room. The others relaxed, but only for a moment.

"I did NOT tell you to stop looking. We have ONE lead, and until this information is confirmed I want you to keep looking or you'll be talking to Koslov, not me. UNDERSTAND?" At that, the group turned as one to the hulking form of Big's most loyal lieutenant as he was nonchalantly picking his teeth with a claw. They too followed Alan's example and ran out of the room as quickly as they could.

However, it was only a few hours later when Big's desk phone rang. "Speak," Big said as he answered, and smiled as the conversation continued. "Good job, Alan. Get back here as soon as you can with the details." He hung up the phone. "Koslov, get Raymond. We've found his brother's killers."

* * *

Notes:

Thanks to DrummerMax64 for the proofing.

Been a while between updates. Life. Starting to get back into writing though.


	11. Red Mist

Judy hummed as she continued reading through the results pulled from the Interpol database. Sally and Angua had done their best in the short amount of time they had, but it was a frustratingly slow process. This was mainly due to the vague information they'd been able to get about their suspects. The security footage from the assault on Luther had been clear enough, but due to where the cameras had been located, they weren't able to get a good angle for any facial recognition software.

However, the photographs taken by one of the rhino assault victims had given them a much clearer look at two of their suspects, if they were indeed the mammals they were looking for. She and Nick were now going through the database using the photos as reference, but trying to match the faces of the rhinos' attackers was slow going. On the bright side, it had narrowed down things a little.

After some deliberation, the two detectives decided to focus their search on criminals in the database that originated from China and its territories, as it was unlikely they'd be from Korea or Japan. Judy brought up how racist that sounded, but Nick fired back that most giant pandas were born in China, and very few, relatively speaking, made their living in other parts of the world.

Judy pointed out there was a newscaster on ZNN who was a panda, but Nick simply asked her if she knew any others that weren't the actor Jack Blackeye. Begrudgingly, she accepted the argument. Since pandas, in general, were a lot less numerous compared to the other mammals in the video, they focused their search in the database for pandas with known associates. Unfortunately, while pandas were relatively few in number in other parts of the world, Nick had correctly assumed that there would be plenty in China itself. Which meant there were quite a few to look into.

Judy took her eyes off the screen and glanced over at Nick, who was smiling serenely, yet still focused on the job. She rested her chin in her paw and watched him for a few minutes, a smile forming on her own face. After the news of his mother's complete remission, Nick seemed a bit more relaxed and carefree. He had also been incredibly affectionate last night. Not that he wasn't during their private time anyway, but there was a certain happiness that had been missing for a few months, and it had returned with vigour.

She looked around the MCU offices and surprisingly found it full. They had come in a little early to make up for getting the afternoon off to celebrate with Nick's mother yesterday, and she'd been so engrossed in her work she hadn't noticed anybody else come in. She checked the time and realised it was past noon already. As if on cue, her stomach made a tiny grumbling sound. Not many people would have been able to pick up on that, but Nick did, having become accustomed to the sound over the last year.

"Wanna head to lunch, Fluff?" he asked.

"I guess, but we got a lot of stuff to do."

"How about I go grab us something so we can keep working?"

"Do you mind?" Judy asked, not wanting to force Nick to work through a break just because she wanted to get as much done as possible.

"Nah, I fancy a little walk anyway, if you can wait twenty minutes. Mind if I take a short one to the Snarlbucks a couple blocks over? Spinach, brie, and kale panini?" he asked, hopping off the desk.

"That'd hit the spot right now, yeah. Thanks, Slick," she said, smiling all the while.

Nick gave her a quick peck on the cheek and headed for the door, holding it open for Detective Sally von Fledermaus, who struggled a little with doors due to her leathery wings. The bat hopped on over to Judy, a smile affixed to her face.

"Well now, you two seem to be in a very good mood today, especially Nick. Honestly Judy, I wish you'd introduce me to one of your brothers."

"Why do you think every time Nick is in a good mood, it's because of sex?" Judy rolled her eyes. She liked Sally, but the constant questions and jokes about her and Nick's sex life got tiring after a while. Although in fairness, she did that with everybody, especially her partner Angua, a timber wolf who was in a long-term relationship with a highland bull, Detective Sergeant Carrot Ironpaw.

"Mainly cos it winds you up," she admitted, grinning. If it had been anyone else, Judy would've considered kicking the grin off the offender's face, but there was something just so personable and likeable about Sally. Aside from Nick, Judy found she got on with her the best in the whole department. Some of it might have been something to do with them being the two smallest mammals in the MCU, Nick being just a hair taller, so they faced a lot of similar hardships. Judy had been surprised at first that such a small mammal had been made part of the ZPD before her, as she had heard no mention of it while in training. Sally later revealed she had emigrated from Australia, her home country, only five years ago, and had already been a fully qualified detective. It seemed Zootopia was a smidge behind some other parts of the world in that regard.

"So, if not the obviously good times he shares with you at home, why are you both in such a good mood?" Sally asked.

"His mother got the all clear on her cancer."

"Oh, now _that_ is good news!" Sally said genuinely. "Is that why Vines let you guys have yesterday afternoon off?"

"Yep, we bumped into her at the hospital when she got her results. I asked for an extended lunch and we got the rest of the afternoon off."

"Which explains why you want to work through lunch," Sally replied, chuckling. "Never has to guilt you guys into overtime, does he?"

"Like he does with anyone…well, maybe Fred and Dobby on occasion," said Judy.

"I don't have rabbit ears, but I can still hear you, Hopps," Fred Porklon said.

"Must have time to listen rather than work, Fred," Judy shot back, watching the pig roll his eyes while smiling. Chuckling to herself, Judy spent another few minutes making small talk with Sally before returning to her work. Some time passed as she continued reading the profiles of criminals on her screen when her cell phone rang. She didn't recognise the number but answered it anyway. "Hopps here."

"Hey there. Judy, is that you?" the familiar voice of Nick's friend Harold Westwood answered.

"Oh yeah, Harry," she greeted. "Everything OK? Do you need Nick?"

"Well, I tried calling him, but I didn't get an answer," Harry replied. Judy, a smidge concerned, wondered why Nick hadn't answered. She looked over to his side of the desk and saw his phone on the table. She quickly checked it and saw that he had left it on silent mode and had a missed call.

"Yeah, he's out at the moment and left his phone here. Did he give you my number?" she asked.

"Yeah, said if I couldn't get hold of him that I could call you instead."

"How's Luther?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know how Nick's friend was doing while trying not to be too irritated at Nick for giving her number out without telling her.

"He's doing better. They said he can probably go home in another day or two, but he wanted me to call you because he remembered something."

"Anything he can give us would really help at this point," Judy admitted, trying not to sound exasperated. The searching of the Interpol database was an extremely tedious process.

"He said he remembered one of the mammals who attacked him being called Dragon a couple of times. His head is still a little fuzzy, so he can't remember who it was directed at. But he does remember it being said."

"Hmm, that might be helpful. How come he remembered?"

"He said the movie we were watching jogged his memory."

"Oh. What movie?"

"Street Biter."

"OK…how? Pretty sure there's no dragons in that, just Prowl Julia eating the scenery."

"I dunno, do I look like an expert on concussions?" Harry responded.

"Fair enough," Judy said, letting the sarcasm lie. "Might help, thanks, Harry. I'll let Nick know how Luther's doing." She ended the call and stared at her computer screen silently. Deciding to test out the name, she refined her search by adding the word 'dragon' along with the species description and the assumed country of nationality. She hit search again, and after a few seconds, the search results came back.

Judy was a little stunned. After searching through numerous panda criminals under her less specific searches, she was damn near jubilant to find that there were less than six results. After scrolling through them, she came across one very familiar-looking panda who had the name Dragon as an alias…but nothing under an actual name. Finding that odd, she looked through the list of known associates and found the majority of them were either in custody or dead. All except for six other mammals.

Six mammals that matched their suspects exactly.

"YES!" Judy exclaimed, literally bouncing in her seat and causing the rest of the detectives to jump in turn. "Sorry, sorry!" she said, trying to calm herself. "Just got a big break in the case!"

"Is that so, Hopps?" Captain Vines said, coming out of his office with a stack of files he handed off to Carrot. "Must be a big one to scare half my staff."

"Sorry sir, but I think I just found our mammals," she informed, turning her computer screen slightly so Vines could see easier. As the wolf walked up to her, the main door to the MCU opened up and Nick entered, carrying a paper Snarlbucks bag along with two cups of steaming coffee. "Nick, get over here!" Judy shouted to her partner. When he joined her, she explained the phone call from Harry to him and her boss and then showed them the profiles.

"Says here they were all part of a Triad organisation in Hong Kong, the Jade Triad to be precise, which according to these files was broken up a few months ago by the Hong Kong police. They're the higher-ups, and they all managed to escape."

"Guess we know where to," Nick said, reading through the files.

"And that is going to make things difficult," Vines said, crossing his arms. "If these are the guys who took out one of Big's guys, this could only be the beginning."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Hmm. Wilde, you're what? 33? 34? Do you remember the news from about 25 years ago?"

"I was more interested in comic books and video games than current events at that age, sir," said Nick.

"God, you mammals make me feel old," Vines said, cracking his back as he did so. "I was a rookie detective back then, but it was around that time when Big started consolidating power in the criminal underworld."

"I vaguely remembered my mom saying she was worried about something," said Nick, his brow curling in concentration. "Like, didn't the ZPD find a body in the docks or something?"

"That would have been Meyer Lambskin. He ran the Flock syndicate back in the day, pretty much had all the prostitution and insurance rackets in Savannah Central under his thumb."

"Wait, I think read about him during academy training," Judy cut in. "Didn't he have some sort of deal with a corrupt priest?"

"Yeah, the Flock ran all the prostitution, including the…the kid stuff," Vines revealed, struggling to hold back a growl, as any new parent would. Judy and Nick, meanwhile, both wore horrified expressions. "We think that's why he got such a bad ending."

"What do you mean, sir?" asked Nick.

"The only reason he was found was because some poor bloody salvage diver was looking for a shipping crate that fell off a cargo ship. Found the bastard with his feet encased in concrete, chicken wire encompassing the…well, corpse doesn't really say much considering there was barely any flesh left on him. But the best part was the scuba tank."

"So he was thrown in to sleep with the fishes, all cliché style, and someone tried to save him?" asked Judy

"We think someone threw him in to drown, as per spec, and the chicken wire was to stop the corpse floating to the surface. The scuba tank was an added bit of evil."

"Huh?"

"I get it, sir," Nick said, a small amount of dread in his voice. "Think about it, Fluff. A mammal will typically start drowning within, what? A minute or two tops? Giving someone an hour's air supply to think about what's gonna happen…"

"Oh wow, that's nasty," Judy said, shuddering at the thought.

"And typical of Big," Vines cut in. "Not that we could ever prove it, but that bit of extra suffering is so very like him. Although in Lambsky's case, I can't say he didn't have it coming." He shrugged.

"I still have a hard time seeing Fru Fru's dad as someone so cruel," Judy admitted.

"That's because you're still thinking of him as Fru Fru's dad, Fluff, not the hardened crime boss you know he truly is," Nick said.

"Hopps, I need to remind you of the delicate balance we have to keep with you on the case. I know you haven't had contact with the Big family in over a year, but I can't have you going soft on Big because his granddaughter is named after you."

"Sir, aren't we investigating the death of one of Big's employees? Not him?" asked Judy, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

Vines was silent for a few seconds. "Hmm, point taken, Detective. Even veterans like myself have a hard time being impartial sometimes," he said with a smile. Judy got the distinct feeling that she'd just passed some sort of test. She looked over to Nick, who gave her a quick nod. "I know you're working through your lunch to make up for yesterday, but go take your lunch hour properly. At least get some fresh air. The files you showed me will still be there when you get back." He strode back to his office.

"He's got a point, babe. C'mon, your food and coffee are getting cold," Nick said, gesturing with the Snarlbucks bag he'd been holding during their entire conversation. Before she could object, he made his way out of the office, meaning she had to follow him if she wanted the food.

 _Sly fox,_ she thought as she headed after him. They made their way out of the MCU offices and through the foyer, waving greetings to Clawhauser on their way out. Nick sat on a medium mammal-sized bench on the sidewalk outside the Precinct One entrance. After placing the food down, he patted the empty space next to him, prompting Judy to sit as well.

They ate in content silence and mammal-watched for a while, enjoying the fresh air and each other's company. Suddenly, the wail of several sirens startled them, and they turned to see several squad cars tear around the corner of the building and out into the streets.

"C'mon Nick!" Judy yelled, dumping the remains of her hastily finished lunch into a nearby trash bin.

"Um, Fluff, where are you going?"

"After them!"

"Judy, we're detectives, not beat officers or first responders anymore," Nick said but smiled as he did so. His fiancée couldn't help herself sometimes. "This has got to be, like, the fifth time I've had to remind you."

"Shut up," Judy huffed, puffing out her cheeks in exasperation.

"Alright, alright," Nick had a free paw up in mock surrender as he downed the last of his lunch with the other. "Let's get back to our job instead of wondering about those guys going out to do theirs. If you want, we'll see if Clawhauser can tell us what's going on."

"Yeah, OK," Judy answered. "Still, must be something big if that many patrol cars were responding." She looked down the street that the vehicles had sped down before following her fiancé into the building, mildly worried.

* * *

 _One hour earlier..._

"Guys! Guys! Master is awake!" Tran shouted, coming out of the open door to the Master's bedroom. The rest of the group had been taking a break from discussing their next move by watching some terrible kung-fu movie on Petflix while Tran took watch. They all ran in a mad scramble to the Master's room, the largest one in the penthouse. Dragon took the lead, causing Tran to fly upwards lest he get trampled by the squad of larger mammals, save Rogen, who was too small, and Tai, who took his time.

They all surrounded the huge bed that had been arranged for the Master. Indeed, the miniature panda was awake. He looked dishevelled and weak, but a small smile grew on his muzzle in reaction to seeing his loyal lieutenants around him. "Sorry to have worried you, my friends," he croaked, his mouth dry and voice scratchy.

"Here, Master," said Jo Li, bringing a glass of filtered water from the bedside to his lips. He nodded his thanks and took a few sips, waving a paw slowly when he had quenched his thirst.

"Thank you, Jo Li, always looking out for me as if you were my own dutiful daughter," he wheezed. The way he spoke was tired, but she couldn't help but detect something off about it.

"Still not dead then?" Tai asked, standing in the doorway with arms folded.

"Show some respect!" Dragon barked, turning on Tai, who to his dismay didn't react.

"Leave him be, Dragon. My oldest lieutenant has earned himself some leeway. I may not always see eye to eye with him, but loyalty goes a long way where respect is due."

Dragon stared at his Master agape. The amount of disrespect he was taking from Tai was ludicrous. Dragon turned back to Tai, expecting a look of smug satisfaction, but instead saw a look of suspicion on the leopard's face.

The other members of the group fussed over the Master, who waved them away. "Thank you, my friends, your concern is appreciated. But please. I must discuss something with Dragon and Jo Li. Please leave us for a few minutes, will you?"

The various mammals exchanged odd looks. Dragon's gaze fell on Tai again, who was looking straight at him. The leopard mouthed 'good luck' at him and left the room, shortly followed by Rogen, Tran, and Liu, who looked back at Jo Li with concern.

"Master?" Jo Li asked, edging closer to the bed once the door was closed.

"Both of you, please sit close to me. I fear my current condition has left me more tired than I thought," the Master beckoned the lovers closer. They obliged, sitting on the bed together.

"I believe you two have something you need to tell me?" the Master asked, looking at both of them in turn. Dragon looked up at Jo Li, who shook her head. "Jo Li…" the Master said, a slight hint of menace in his voice. The tigress shuddered, something that Dragon had never seen her do before. True, he had not been with the Jade Triad as long as the others lieutenants, most of them having been street children taken in by the organisation at a young age. He was almost 18 when he came to their attention. However, that was almost a decade ago, and he had never seen Jo Li this… _scared_.

"Come now, child, I am not angry. Just disappointed that you thought you could hide it from me," the Master chided, holding out his paw. Jo Li extended a finger as if she was poking a fire. When nothing happened other than a soft touch by the Master, she looked shocked, while Dragon…wasn't sure what he had expected.

"It is only natural, after all. It has been a while since I last required your services. Or anyone for that matter."

"What the fuck is going on?" Dragon finally said, not liking the words the old red panda had used at all.

"Ah yes, Dragon! My apologies, I forgot you were there for a moment," the Master answered, releasing Jo Li's fingers. "It is fine, you were not supposed to know."

" _Know what?"_ Dragon said, his voice turning harsh.

"Perhaps I should explain. You have not been with me for as long as the others, and you do not know my preferences. It's something we share in common actually."

" _Will you just get to the point?"_ Dragon yelled, anger apparent in his voice. He knew he was being disrespectful, but he did _not_ like the implications these words had. He was starting to feel he'd need to have a word with Tai and apologise to him very soon.

"Of course," said the Master. "Jo Li is my child, you understand? Legally I mean. I adopted her and Tai when they were very young, trained them for this life. Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know? Some sense of honour and charity?" Dragon guessed, not believing his own words. His head was throbbing, and he swore he heard Jo Li stifle a sob. He wished he could look up at her, but his attention had narrowed onto his Master.

"Hmm, there is some truth in what you say. But for all that, there was a cost. Food, clothing, education, it all adds up. I never asked for anything in return. of course. But, being such a dutiful pair, they did offer compensation for their father."

"Jo Li?" Dragon asked, turning to his girlfriend. She looked away, ashamed. "What did you do to her and Tai?"

"I did nothing. She gave freely, as she did to you."

"What are you..." Dragon started to say but stopped himself. He knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Indeed. I say this not to hurt you, Dragon, but to let you know that she is mine first, yours second."

A beat of silence.

"...She was a _cub_ ," said Dragon, the words coming out through gritted teeth.

"We all have our preferences. I am a big fan of felines, but alas, most are far too large for me to enjoy sexually. Children, on the other hand…"

"Why on Earth are you telling me this?" Dragon asked, his rage temporarily overwritten by confusion.

"So that you know where your place is, _whelp_ ," the Master scolded. "I would not have minded if you had told me your feelings, and I would have given you my blessing if you were honest. However, you hid this from me. Perhaps in my younger days, I would have simply thrashed you stupid for doing me such a disservice. You _and_ her. However, knowing that I had her first will do more to remind you of where your place is than any kind of beating."

Dragon turned back to Jo Li, who had finally looked back at him. Her eyes were wet from silent tears, sadness and anger leaving their mark in them. He'd seen that she'd been hurt, and knew that she was incredibly loyal to her Master. He thought it was due to the hard life she had lived. And it was true, yet in a way, he couldn't have imagined.

His mind turned back to their meeting with the shrew mob boss, Big. Only the Master had met with him, and when both exited the room, they were both furious. Quietly so, but the look on their faces was unmistakable. The Master had said it was because they had come to a ludicrous impasse. He'd gone on and on for days about how 'Big was letting outdated morals get in the way of a profitable business. Transport cost and the risk were high, but the profit was enormous for such young cargo, and it would see the Jade Triad back to its original financial stability within months if handled properly.'

 _Young cargo_. He'd thought the way the Master had put it was odd at the time, but Dragon didn't question it. He'd assumed they were working out some sort of drug deal with some of the few contacts they had back home. And perhaps that was right. Hong Kong was practically littered with unwanted children in some parts of the city, but he'd never seen the Master or the Jade Triad take part in such a business…at least, in the relatively short years he'd been with them. Obviously, the risk had outpaced the reward by then.

"I see that this has come as something of a revelation to you," the Master said, bringing Dragon out of his dark thoughts. "Go. Take Jo Li with my blessing. Consider her a gift."

That _tore_ itfor Dragon. The thought of this cub-fucker treating her like some sort of reward? Like some payment for services rendered? That destroyed the last vestiges of respect he had for the Master in him. He wanted to break something, throw up, and cry at the same time.

The first option won out.

Faster than he realised, he thrust out a huge paw and grabbed the smaller panda's neck. He felt so much smaller than he had imagined. For years, he had seen the Master as some sort of indestructible force, but he was so light. And brittle.

The Master tried to say something. Dragon barely heard a "What do you think yo…" before increasing the pressure on his neck. Dragon brought his other paw down on the Master's head, gripping it so hard it caused the old mammal to cry out. In one quick motion, Dragon pulled and twisted.

The sound of the Master's neck snapping was barely perceptible.

Dragon let go of the body and it flopped to one side. The pounding in his head was gone, but it was replaced by a pounding in his chest as his heart beat faster than he had ever felt it before. As it slowed, he finally remembered that he wasn't alone in the room and turned to the woman he loved. He was very conscious that he'd just killed the closest thing she had to a father in her life. Fully prepared to have his eyes clawed out at the very least, he looked at her.

So when she planted a passionate kiss on his lips, he was very surprised.

After what seemed like minutes, she relented and looked him in the eyes. There was sadness there, yes, but the majority of his vision was filled with eyes of pure love. She laughed a little, obviously enjoying his confusion, but she stopped and just stared with a relieved smile on her face. More minutes passed as they gazed at each other. It was like two teenagers who had just shared their first kiss, if not for the corpse between them.

Jo Li cleared her throat and nodded to the body. "I guess we should tell…" she started to say. Before she could finish, there was a huge roar from the other side of the door, followed by two loud booms and the sound of breaking wood. Alarmed, they both launched out of the room just in time to see the rest of their group scrambling out of their seats, all of them looking at where the entrance to the penthouse used to be.

Standing there, holding a huge shotgun and flanked by four white hares holding pistols, stood a very angry polar bear.

"THIS IS FOR MY BROTHER YOU BASTARDS!" Raymond yelled before opening fire.

* * *

Notes: Starting to get better at cranking these out. Thanks again to DrummerMax64 for the feedback and proofing.


	12. Sheer Carnage

Judy and Nick strode through the foyer of the Zootopia Deluxe Apartments. They'd been ordered there by Chief Bogo only two hours after their lunch, and the tone that Vines had delivered the news suggested it was very important. That was all but confirmed when the captain ordered them into his personal car and drove them there himself. Now, Vines walked ahead slightly, his fast-paced and longer stride fueled by anger as most things with him were. This caused Judy to adopt a half-hopping method of keeping up, while Nick had to practically jog.

There were plenty of mammals in the foyer, some residents asking police what was going on, apartment staff looking confused, and several officers, a few of which were looking very green around the gills. Judy didn't have time to question it, as Vines had stepped into a waiting elevator and pressed the button, prompting her and Nick to run in or be left behind.

"Sorry Detectives," said Vines as the ride began, shaking his head. "This whole thing has gone straight past 'bad' and all the way to 'FUBAR' a lot quicker than I'd hoped."

Judy nodded noncommittedly. That was a pretty accurate description from what she'd heard, though Vines only had a brief description of events that he'd related to them. Police were summoned to the Zootopia Deluxe after reports of gunfire were heard from the floors below the penthouse. By the time they had arrived, there was no noise. They'd stormed in and found four dead mammals of various species all killed in different ways, one of which appeared to be a known associate of Mr Big, which was why they'd been called. That was all Vines had told them before getting them to the complex.

The elevator completed its rise and stopped, opening up to an entrance hallway leading to the apartment. As they stepped out, Judy saw Nick glance around and point at a security camera above the door that was directed at the elevator. She nodded, understanding that hopefully they'd have some security footage to work with. At the far end of the hallway, a horse officer she wasn't familiar with was blocking their view of the door.

Vines stopped short of the entrance and grimaced, stepping aside for his detectives. "This is your show, Detectives, unless you say otherwise. I'm only here because…" he paused, which gave Judy some concerns. "Because I'm an old fool who thinks he has to do everything. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, sir, you're not that old," said Nick.

"Har har, Wilde," said Vines, though a genuine smile followed. "I don't know, I just have a feeling this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

"Sir, with all due respect, we've seen you like this with the other detectives, so we half expected it anyway," Judy said. Vines was gruff, bad-mannered, and angry all the damn time, but he was also kind and ridiculously protective of the mammals under his command. Strictly speaking, his job was to manage them, but he always seemed to be out and about with the detectives where possible.

"Oh, good to know me going stir-crazy doesn't go unnoticed," the wolf replied with embarrassment.

"Just shows how good the detectives you hire are, sir. Which reflects well on you," Nick said in the most deadpan voice he could manage.

"Wilde, if you fake brown-nose any further, I'll shove you so far up your own arse it won't be a colourful expression anymore," Vines said, equally as deadpan. Nick raised his hands in mock surrender, having tested his captain's patience many times. Judy turned a laugh into a cough, which Vines pointedly ignored. "I'm going to head back to the precinct. Here," he took out his wallet and handed Nick five $10 bills. "Get a taxi or Zuber when you're done."

"Sir, that's almost two-thirds more than…"

"Don't care, Wilde. I consider it a 'being a micromanaging arsehole' tax," Vines said. He paused, a serious look on his face. "You've been told to brace yourselves, Detectives. From what I heard, it's not a pretty sight, even by our standards," Vines warned. He gestured to the horse officer, who stood aside to allow Nick and Judy to walk in.

"I can already smell a serious amount of blood, sir," Wilde said, tapping his nose. "We'll be fine."

Judy nodded in agreement and strode through the door. Vines simply nodded in kind and headed back to the elevator.

"Detectives Hopps and Wilde, MCU. What have we go…" Judy began to say when the smell hit her less sensitive nose, directing her attention to the cause of it.

In front of her were three dead mammals. The first was a hare with fur that was a vibrant white, which seemed to indicate an arctic variety. He was laying on his side, a bullet hole in his gut that would have been a slow, agonising way to die. The gaping wound in his throat ensured his death was a lot quicker.

She turned to the next mammal, a bat that was on his back, spread-eagle. Though she couldn't be certain, she was fairly confident in thinking this was the same one from the assault on Luther, one Tran Jiāochā if she was remembering the name from the Interpol file correctly. Certainly, the knives that adorned his left foot were the same as the ones she'd seen in the security cam footage, and were Tran's preferred method of attack according to his file. His right foot was completely absent, only a gaping wound where it had once been. Hell, the word "wound" wasn't a proper description; it was a damn huge hole that had allowed some of his intestines to fall out. Whatever had caused that had taken the missing limb with it, she guessed.

The final corpse was a polar bear that had fallen forward onto his stomach, but his face was hidden by the way his arms had folded around it, as if trying to protect his head from a fall. Didn't do much good, though. Blood covered the carpet under him in such a huge quantity that Judy was pretty sure his stomach was going to be an absolute mess, possibly even worse than the bat. The blood had also soaked into his fur and clothes, unsurprisingly.

After taking everything in, Judy felt her gut lurch. She placed a paw over her mouth and clamped it shut. After a few seconds, she swallowed hard and shuddered as the vomit returned to her stomach. A light touch on her free paw caused her to turn to Nick, who looked almost as green as she did. She caught the bob of his Adam's apple, meaning he just swallowed as well. That made her feel a lot better, knowing that even her personal predator was put off by the carnage.

"Ok… so who's in charge?" Nick asked while Judy kept her mouth shut a little longer, wanting to make sure she absolutely wasn't going to throw up over any potential evidence.

"Over here, Wilde," a familiar voice said. As Sergeant Grizzoli moved towards them, Judy finally noticed the throng of mammals at the scene. Several crime scene investigators were taking photos and laying down markers for bullet holes. She'd really been unnerved by the bat's injuries to not perceive the hive of activity going on.

"Why do we only meet under these circumstances, Grizz? You'd think you didn't like me or something," said Nick as he slid into a good-natured joke, trying to distract himself from the stench of blood and gore.

"I don't like you, Wilde. Not since you won $200 off me last time we played poker," the bear said with only a hint of actual malice.

"Hey, not my fault I called your bluff. Who the hell goes all in on the first hand? And with a pair of threes? Could have been worse if we'd gone with my original idea to play for real money, not the literal Monopoly money Clawhauser brought in!"

"Yes, but it's the principle of the thing," Grizzoli said with a laugh. A small sloshing sound drew Nick and Judy's attention to the wet paper bag he was holding. "Uhm…took me a bit by surprise," said the Sergeant waving to the scene.

"Good thing you came prepared," Judy said approvingly.

"Not that prepared. This was a turkey sandwich for my lunch."

"So what can you tell us?" said Nick, stifling a laugh by turning it into a cough.

"At roughly 1:15 pm, there were reports of gunshots and shouts heard by the residents of the apartment below that lasted about three to five minutes. The security desk in the lobby called the police when they didn't get a response from the residents over the intercom of their registered phone number. Or at least, after they didn't hear anything more for an hour, and the security staff didn't bother to try and contact them on the intercom or on their registered numbers multiple times," said the sergeant with a growl. "Seems the mammals in the Zootopia Deluxe value their privacy above all else, or so the security staff claim. Personally, I think they just couldn't care less what a bunch of rich pricks do to each other."

"Less social commentary, more facts please, Sergeant," Judy said with a slight hint of impatience. The smell of blood was starting to get to her again.

"Well, three squad cars responded to the call, and SWAT followed a few minutes later as we had no idea if there was still an active shooter situation. We arrived at 2:23 pm, and two minutes later, SWAT arrived and breached the door at 2:32 pm and found…this," said Grizzoli, gesturing to the scene. "Three dead mammals in here, and one in the bedroom over there," he pointed to another open door on the far side of the apartment. "The three in here seem to have injuries typical for a short gunfight and melee."

"What about the one in the bedroom?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, that's the weird one. No bullet holes, stab wounds, or claw marks, at least from what we can see. Bo's already in there checking him over," said Grizzoli. As he said this, Nick saw the forensic sheep moving around the door, taking pictures.

"So, what about this means it comes to the MCU's attention?" Judy asked. So far it seemed like a bad murder, yes, but nothing that would take them away from their case.

"Carrots," Nick got her attention, nudging his fiancée with an elbow and pointing to the foot of the polar bear. Right on the sole was the white, stylised B of the Big mob.

"Shit," Judy muttered, part in realisation at the implications, and part in allowing the carnage to get to her and make her not notice a detail like that. Nobody called her out on it though, so she just filed it away and resolved to try and do better next time. "Any idea how many mammals were involved?" she asked.

"Well, the building management said the apartment had eight mammals living here. The place has enough bedrooms for it too. As for assailants? Not sure, aside from the two here. Forensics might get an idea when they count the bullet holes. It'll probably take them a while though."

It was then that Nick and Judy finally looked around at the very large and expensive apartment. Dotted around the edges of it were a few apparently bullet-resistant windows, judging by the half-dozen bullets lodged in some of them. Strewn around was fancy, avant-garde furniture, or at least what may have been considered avant-garde. Now it was scrap, leather chairs and sofas riddled with bullet holes, with the occasional rip from a knife, possibly a claw. Truth be told, there weren't that many bullet holes. Maybe less than thirty at a casual glance. There were, however, at least four shotgun blasts embedded in various parts of the apartment. One shot had destroyed a large television that had been hung on the wall if the slightly light rectangle on the white wall was anything to go by. It now lay in pieces on the floor, plastic and glass scattered around it.

"OK Sarge," said Judy, deciding the best way to deal with the still overwhelming smell of blood was to get to work as quickly as possible. "We'll take a look around. Are there any building managers or security staff 'round?"

"Yeah, they're in the manager's office speaking with Jackson at the moment. They're also going to grab the details of who lived here for us…well, I guess for you now, I mean?" Grizzoli asked. Major Crimes detectives had to officially state if they were taking a case before anything could really happen.

"I think it's safe to assume we will be," Judy confirmed, looking at the bat. "But can you give us a few minutes to take a look before we get anything? Also, if you can hint to Jackson that we'll need the names of those staff members and have them sit tight for a moment, that'd be great." She paused for a second and then asked, "Don't suppose any of these guys happened to have some form of ID on them, huh?"

"You should be so lucky, Hopps."

"Well, I guess having two rabbit feet doesn't mean you always get lucky. SHUT UP NICK!" Judy shouted, immediately knowing Nick was about to latch onto the obvious innuendo. She heard a soft 'aww' from behind her and turned to see Grizzoli stifle his own laugh. "Thanks, Grizz."

"No worries, Hopps, just let me know when you're ready with whatever your decision will be," he said, and started talking into his radio. Judy turned to talk to Nick, only to find that he was squatting next to the hare. She walked over to him and looked over the least grotesque of the corpses. "Anybody familiar, Mr I-Know-Everyone?" she asked.

"Not personally, but…" Nick trailed off. He took a pair of rubber gloves out of his pocket and snapped them on. He went to touch the body, but paused, turning to a crime tech. "Hey buddy," he said, waving to a pangolin tech whose name escaped him for a few seconds. "Charlie, right?" he asked. When the pangolin nodded in the affirmative, Nick pointed to the hare's left ear at a small tattoo on the pink-skinned inside. "Can you take a picture of this? Am I OK to move the ear for a better shot?"

"We already got all the pictures of how he was lying, but I'd leave it. I can get a better angle for you." He moved closer to the corpse and readied the camera, aiming at where Nick's finger was pointing. Nick moved his paw out of the way, and a second later Charlie took the picture.

"Can I see it?" Nick asked, moving over to the pangolin who brought up the picture of the tattoo on the camera's digital display.

"Got something?" Judy asked as Charlie showed her the picture. The tattoo was a small grey shape, similar to a tombstone, encased in a block of ice.

"I think I recognise this. It looks like a gang tattoo for… the Stone Cold Killers? Something like that anyway." Nick got up and sighed. "They've also been suspected of associating with the Big mob."

"Oh this just gets better every day." Judy pinched the bridge of her nose. "I have a sinking feeling we're gonna know who that is as well," she finished, pointing at the polar bear.

"Yeah, let's get this other with," Nick said, shaking his head. "HEY BILL!" he yelled, startling the other officers present and catching the attention of the goat still examining the bedroom corpse. "We OK to move this guy's arms so we can see his face?" he asked while gesturing in the direction of the massive corpse.

"Sure thing, Nick, we got pictures. Just be careful and try and keep your eyes out for anything," said Bill.

"Charlie, get ready to take some pictures, alright?" Nick asked. The pangolin nodded in response and moved over to the front of the corpse along with Nick and Judy.

"Hey Hopps, Wilde," a familiar voice spoke. Judy turned and saw Officer McHorn stepping forward.

"Oh, McHorn! Didn't see you there!"

"First time that's ever happened to me," the massive rhino said with a smile. "Want some help moving this guy's arms?"

"Actually yeah, might be better than dragging them along the carpet," Judy said. It was certainly possible for her and Nick to move the polar bear's arms, but due to the size difference, it'd be like moving a set of heavy-duty weights for the smaller mammals. Doable, but there was always the risk of dropping them and causing damage. McHorn wouldn't have that problem, clearly.

"All right," said McHorn, retrieving a pair of rhino-sized rubber gloves from his belt. He moved to the corpse's left and knelt by the mouth. "Just let me know what and when to move."

"Just pick them up and move 'em a few inches away from the face. Thanks, champ," said Nick. Judy nodded in agreement. With nothing else needed, McHorn gingerly picked up one arm and moved it a few inches away from the face, and then reached over and did the same thing to the other, planting both of them palms down.

"Well, can't say I'm surprised," Nick said with a heavy heart. "That's Raymond Koslov. The original victim's brother."

"I'm sorry, Nick," Judy said, placing a paw on his arm. "I know he was your friend."

"Please Judy, work acquaintance at best… but thanks," he said, reaching with his free paw to grasp the one she had placed on his arm. He turned back to Raymond's body. "Wait a minute, what's that?" he asked, curiosity replacing melancholy. Judy followed his eyes and saw something poking out of the left side of Raymond's mouth. It was the barest hint of metal, light reflecting off of it. Before anyone else could do anything, Nick knelt down.

"Want me to open the mouth?" asked McHorn, leaning forward.

"Nah, I got this one, bud. Thanks, Frank," Nick said. Opening the mouth was a lot easier than moving the arms, and he didn't want the patrol officer to do more paperwork than he already had to. Nick leaned towards the piece of metal that had cut into Raymond's lips. Cracking his knuckles, more for dramatic effect than anything, he reached down and pulled the body's jaw open.

Judy watched from behind, finding herself looking at her partner rather than the evidence he was uncovering. Her concern for him was overriding her need to do her job. She was just about to look away when she saw Nick's face blanch. He dropped Raymond's jaw in fright.

"Nick, what the…" she started to say, but stopped when he clamped both paws over his muzzle. "GRIZZOLI! BAG!" she shouted. The sergeant ran over, saw Nick, and immediately shoved his lunch bag under Nick's face. Nick grabbed it, opened it, and emptied the contents of his stomach into it, heedless of the smell. After a few seconds, he handed the bag to Grizzoli with a faint smile to show his appreciation. Grizzoli nodded, holding the bag away from himself since it was a good chunk more full than before.

Judy walked up, her concern for her mate making her ignore the little bits of vomit that had caught in the fur around his mouth. "Nick, are you OK? What was it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I just…oh God…" he said before swallowing hard. "I found the rest of the bat."

* * *

"The hell happened out there?" Bill asked as Nick and Judy walked into the bedroom to inspect the final corpse.

"You know the bat outside? Nick found the rest of him inside the bear's mouth," answered Judy.

"Ok…that's gross, but what was all the running?"

"That'd be myself, McHorn and Grizzoli running to the bathroom because Grizzoli's lunch bag was full." She smacked her lips and let her tongue loll out. She made a mental note to pick up mouthwash on the way home.

"In their defence, the only reason I wasn't part of that was because I was the reason for the full lunch bag," Nick said, wiping his mizzle for the tenth time in five minutes.

"Yeah, running sure does work up an appetite," Bill said casually before taking a bite of the chocolate bar he was holding. The two detectives glared at it. After a few seconds, Bill stopped chewing, and they then glared at him. He glanced down at the bar, swallowed, and put the remnants in his pocket. "Hey, you don't get to be in my line of work without developing a lead-lined stomach. You should see some of the stuff I've had to pull out of mammals' stomachs when they're on the slab. Hell, one time I removed an entire…"

"SO! What can you tell us about this corpse!" Judy said louder than she intended to while pointing at the bed behind Bill. She really didn't want to vomit again today. At least, not until she could do it in the privacy of her own bathroom.

"Only that there's barely a mark on him, aside from the broken neck."

"That's odd, considering the very violent confrontation outside," Nick said, jerking a thumb over his back. "Can we take a look?"

"Done what I can, so yeah, but be careful all the same,"Bill said, moving aside. The detectives moved up to the massive bed. It was low enough to the floor that even Nick could jump up to it easily. They walked over to the corpse of an elderly red panda who looked almost peaceful compared to the carnage in the other room, though the open eyes took away from that somewhat.

"Is this the guy from the files?" Nick asked, knowing Judy had gotten a better look at them before they got called out.

"Looks like it. Iroh Shifu, aka 'The Master' of the Jade Triad. Think of him as the Hong Kong equivalent of Mr Big. Although, getting a positive I.D. is gonna be a bitch," she said with a sigh. From the time she spent looking at the file, she saw that most of his associates were either dead or in prison, and in addition, there was no family to contact. Even that would have been a chore, but now they would have to liaise with Interpol and the Hong Kong police. She hadn't had to do so herself during her career, but she'd been told a tale by Dobby about a murder case involving a Chinese natural that managed to get on a plane back to his home country, but the Chinese authorities refused to extradite him. Technically, Hong Kong had its own police force and laws, but the Chinese government had been extending more and more control over the territory since its return from the British over two decades ago. Or at least, that's what the Wikipawdia article said.

"So…he wasn't touched by the mammals who attacked the apartment, and yet he still ends up dead?" Nick queried, bringing Judy out of her thoughts.

"You thinking it's odd how savage the battle outside is, yet there's no marks on this guy?" Judy replied, having come to that conclusion after thinking about the question for a few seconds.

"Yep, glad we're on the same page. I dunno, a quick neck snap versus the butchery out there? Doesn't seem consistent. Did he die around the same time as the others?" Nick asked, turning to Bill.

"Way too early to give anything but a rough guess, but it seems so," said Bill.

"But the way he died doesn't match up," Judy brought up. "How clean is the break?"

"As clean as possible without some kind of machine doing it, though on such a small mammal that wouldn't be too hard if he was caught unawares. Hell, a mid-sized mammal with a decent build could have done it easily enough if they knew what they were doing."

"Caught unawares…" Nick muttered. "I guess that makes sense. The scene outside suggests a surprise attack."

"But there doesn't seem to be any indication of fighting in here. It's all out in the main room," Judy said.

"Good point. So that either means someone got in here to kill this guy without leaving a trace and did it relatively kindly because he's got respect for his elders or something..." Nick said.

"Or it was someone he knew," Judy finished the thought. "Someone who he trusted, who could get close and do it. Maybe one of the other Triads? But why?"

"And that's where logical speculation runs it course and we start coming up with scenarios involving ninjas," Nick joked, making his way off the bed and hopping down. There wasn't much more info they could glean from the corpse at this stage. "Let us know what you got as soon as you can, Bill."

"Have I ever let you down before?" Bill asked, moving towards the panda and looking him over again.

"Nope, but I'd hate for you to start," said Nick with a wry smile.

"We're gonna need to talk to the building manager or whatever they have here," Judy said, following her partner. "Find out how these guys got into this room, and get access to that security camera footage. I find it hard to believe a squad of armed mammals could have gotten through the lobby and into the private elevator without authorisation of some kind."

"Could've faked a delivery easily enough," Nick suggested.

"True, but the clothes on Raymond and the rabbit don't scream Amazon, do they?" Judy replied, pointing at the corpses, who looked like they were getting ready to be moved by a team of plastic, gown-clad mammals.

"Good point," Nick admitted. Turning away, he saw Grizzoli having a heated discussion with a tigress in a black business suit in the entrance hallway outside the penthouse proper. "Wanna bet that's the building manager?" They started heading over to the bear and tigress.

"Ma'am, the detectives from MCU are on the scene and will need to take what time they need…" they heard Grizzoli say before being cut off.

"That is completely unacceptable," the tigress said in a surprisingly even tone, though one that betrayed a barely controlled rage. "I need to get things cleaned up for the sake of the other tenants."

"And if you did that before we cleared the scene, you would be arrested for interfering with an active crime scene," Judy said, glaring at the tigress. "Ms?"

"Khan. Cheryl Khan," replied the tigress, turning away from Grizzoli, who seemed relieved by the fact. "And I'm not interested in the opinion of some intern..."

"Detective," Judy interrupted, showing her badge. Nick did the same. It still annoyed her that some mammals never took her or Nick seriously at first glance. However, the looks of confusion and realisation of having insulted a detective when they pulled out their badges certainly made up for it.

Ms Khan wore that expression now, but to her credit she rallied magnificently. "My apologies, Detectives. But you must know the concern this will cause our tenants knowing that a murder has taken place here."

"And who exactly has told them that?" Nick asked. "There has been no statement made by the ZPD on this matter."

"Well…no one," Khan admitted. "But surely once word does get out…"

"When word gets out, we will be doing so to advise the public of potential risk and possibly seek help. Not to speed up an investigation for your father's business empire, Ms Khan. Youngest daughter of Sher Khan, CEO and founder of Khan Industries," Nick listed out.

"Of course, but surely…"

"Did your father put you up to this?" Nick asked severely.

"No, of course not! Father has always cooperated with the police, it's just that…"

"Just that you're trying to make sure his name doesn't get associated with a murder, after your little…public show that leaked on the Internet last year. One that tarnished the Khan name? It was in all the gossip rags and sites."

That stopped the tigress dead in her tracks. Judy looked in awe at her fiancé. He really had a gift with words and reading mammals, though it helped that this one was a bit of celebrity, so it wasn't that hard to piece together her reasoning for keeping his under wraps.

"Yes…well, perhaps I was too eager to put things right," the tigress admitted, putting on her best stoic face. Judy recalled the image of Sher Khan, a famously stoic and fastidious tiger. His daughter seemed to be trying to pull off a sterling impression of him, and was only failing a small amount.

"In fact, you can help us with our investigation," Judy said, taking a small amount of pity on Cheryl. Being the daughter of one of the richest mammals in Zootopia, perhaps the world, and yet she was essentially working as a glorified building super. That video must have upset Daddy quite a bit. "This floor is only accessible from that private elevator, yes?"

"No," Cheryl answered, smoothing down her whiskers. "The stairwell for emergencies and maintenance staff does have access to this floor."

"And I'm assuming those doors aren't locked?" Judy asked.

"Well, due to fire regulations, no. But they're not easily accessible to the public. The stairs eventually lead to the lobby, but they exit near the security desk, so it's not like anyone can come and go as they please."

"Aren't fire doors supposed to lead to the outside?"

"Yes, and these do as well, but unless deactivated, they cause the fire alarm in the building to go off. Not exactly like someone could sneak in."

"Unless they knew what they were doing, or had inside help," Judy said with a sigh. This was going to be a long day. "OK, we're going to need contact information for all your staff. Security, maintenance, any contract workers you use, hell, anyone you had to fire as well. Someone got at least two murderers into your building unseen, and probably helped get them out too."

"Yes, of course," Cheryl answered. "But do you know how long it will take before we can clean the apartment?"

"It'll be a few days at least," Judy said, a little put off by the fixation on cleanliness when several mammals had just died. "Forensics are going to be going over this place with a microscope. I assume we can guarantee your cooperation?"

"Yes, certainly," Cheryl said. She was about to say something else when a very loud and wet 'SPLAT' sound came from the door. "What was that?"

"Stay here, Ms Khan," Nick ordered as he and Judy made for the penthouse. They stopped short when they saw the entire crew of police seemingly struggling to not vomit. They looked and saw the cause of their discomfort. A large gurney had been placed by the corpse of Raymond, and it looked like they had rolled him over in order to get him into a body bag nearby. In doing so, they revealed the injury that had killed him, one that was hopefully quick.

Someone had disembowelled him lengthways up his body. His lower intestines were hanging out, and Nick saw what he thought might be a kidney had dropped out onto the carpet. Maybe a liver too?

The huge amount of blood under Raymond's corpse made complete sense now. Weirdly enough, the offal laid out on the floor made Nick hungry for a hot dog for a split second before he felt his stomach heave once more.

"If Ms Khan was worried about the cleaning before now, she'll be apoplectic after this," Nick said, using humour to try and stop himself from gagging. It didn't work. Mere seconds letter, his stomach let go of the last vestiges of his lunch, depositing it on the carpet.

He felt marginally better when Judy and most of the other mammals who still had some food left to lose let rip as well.


	13. Pale Horse

Judy stifled a yawn as she drove through the city streets. _3 pm, five coffees in and I'm_ still _tired,_ she thought. She took a small amount of comfort in knowing that she wasn't the only one suffering the same symptoms, as Nick let out a big yawn as he stared out the car window. That comfort was mitigated by the reason why they were both tired. They had gotten everything they needed at the penthouse crime scene with just enough time to get back to the precinct and write their report before clocking out for the evening. When they'd gotten home, they'd barely been in the mood to do anything but collapse on the couch and try and watch something on Petflix, neither of them feeling like eating. After a while, they decided to call it an early night, hoping they'd regain their appetite for a decent breakfast the next morning.

Unfortunately, their subconscious minds had different ideas.

Judy's dream was more weird than scary. She dreamed of a faceless polar bear standing in front of her. Without warning, the faceless creature drew a zipper down their front, allowing most of their internal organs to spill to floor, threatening to drown the rabbit in an avalanche of viscera. However, the organs themselves had faces and began dancing around her mind in a scene reminiscent of the Elephant Parade from the movie Dumbo, except marginally less terrifying. Hell, it didn't even wake her up.

Nick wasn't as lucky.

He woke screaming, accidentally kicking Judy in her side and waking her as well. In a mad scramble, he found himself on the floor breathing hard, eyes frantically darting back and forth. Pain forgotten, Judy launched herself at her mate, grabbing him around the neck and moving his nose under her chin, right where her scent gland was. Being a canid, smell was one of the first things Nick noticed, and he'd told her on more than one occasion that her scent was one of the first things he detected when she entered a room. With her most aromatic part right on his nose, Nick quickly snapped out of his panic. Immediately after, however, he looked at Judy like she was about to break before running his hands and roving his eyes over her.

Eventually, he calmed down enough for her to start getting coherent answers out of him. She found out why he had woken up like he did. While she had a weird dream, Nick had described his as a full-on nightmare. Most of the details had escaped him after he awoke, but he had one harrowing image burned into his mind.

An indistinct predator muzzle biting down on Judy's neck. Hard.

After that revelation, he decided he really didn't want to go to sleep again that night and went into the front room to try and relax. Judy tried to get back to sleep, but found it rather difficult due to a combination of worrying about Nick and not having him in bed to cuddle into. After an hour, she joined him in the front room, finding him watching some animated movie on Petflix. Having him close let her doze a bit while he wrapped his arms around her, but she never managed to fall back into a deep sleep.

Thankfully, their appetites had returned during the morning at the precinct, so they had managed to gain a little energy. However, they were still pretty much dead on their feet otherwise. Compounding this was the lack of progress in their case, as they were still waiting on a full autopsy and identification of the unknown mammals that were killed in the penthouse. After a frustrating, argumentative call to the Chinese embassy where Judy had to essentially browbeat the ambassadorial staff to try and get help in positively identifying the bat and red panda, Nick suggested they could at least go see Luther Hill to confirm if they were indeed his attackers. He reasoned it could be a useful visit for them, plus it would be nice just to get out of the office and be a little active after their eventful night.

Before doing so, they'd spoken to Captain Vines, who had just gotten off the phone with Precinct 26 about some unusual activity from the Stallion Mafia in the area. A long-time ally of the Big organisation, there were rumours of them looking for another syndicate. Nothing concrete, but enough for the MCU to be kept abreast of the situation considering the multiple cases involving the various criminal syndicates in the city. No description of the mammals involved were reported, but if there was even a hint of it being connected to Nick and Judy's case, they needed to be made aware.

After that, Nick had tried calling Luther, but found the phone going to voicemail. A call to Harry had them finding out the badger was, in fact, at work. Apparently, he didn't like the idea of leaving security to anyone else and had gone in to see how the preparations for tonight's opening was going. The fact that he could barely move unassisted and had one of his arms in a sling, among other injuries, wasn't as big of a concern to him. So, the duo determined they would head to where Luther currently was, the Inferno strip club.

"Stubborn doesn't really describe it accurately when it comes to Luther, does it?" Judy asked, trying to get a conversation going. While they were both tired, keeping their brains engaged would at least keep them going until they could get home.

"I'd say hard-headed, arrogant, and very bad at delegation," Nick replied with a smile, turning his half-lidded eyes to his mate.

"Sounds like he and Finnick will get along just fine," Judy said, a snort of laughter escaping her.

"Oh crap, that's right! I forgot I had gotten him that job there. We gotta get their quick, Fluff!" Nick said, excitement in his voice.

"Why? Worried they'll get into it?"

"No, I'm worried we'll miss the show! Got any popcorn?"

A few minutes later, a sufficiently energised Nick led the way to the Inferno club, a skip in his step and Judy's eyes rolling at her fox's antics.

"Hey Nick… Wow, you look like warmed-over shit," Harry said, greeting them at the door. He looked over to Judy. "You look only slightly better, Judy."

"Such a charmer," Judy replied. She let out a large yawn. "Is Luther able to talk?"

"Yeah, he's at the bar with Kyle and Finnick."

"Oooh, I don't want to miss this!" Nick said, hurrying inside, his tail wagging like an excited kit's. Judy followed, shaking her head as Harry closed and locked the brand-new front door. She glanced at it, noting the solid build and brand-new electronic locks. While it didn't look any heavier than the old one, it seemed more sturdy, with additional bolts on the inside. There also seemed to be some sort of assisted opening system on the inside with motors. It was easy to open from the inside, and with the appropriate key from the outside as well, but it'd be damned hard to try and break it down. It seemed Harry wasn't taking any more chances after Luther's assault.

Judy made her way down to the bar, following close behind Nick and Harry. She'd never seen the club lit up in anything but its painful "Hell" motif, all reds and oranges. Here, under the standard neon lights that were used before its opening, the novelty flame and smoke-themed chairs looked like some sort of kit's playset. An expensive one to be fair, but still. Plus, the smoke-based furniture looked more like mushrooms than anything.

Harry pointed Judy to a small and medium-sized mammal bar, the one Nick had already started making his way towards. Harry walked away to attend to some filing work in his office behind the main stage, so Judy kept following her partner. She saw Luther and Finnick, and to Nick's slight disappointment and Judy's surprise, the two seemed to be chatting quite amicably, or as amicably as two angry mammals with zero interpersonal skills could manage. Luther looked better, but Judy could see some bumps from his bandages underneath his plain black t-shirt, and his left eye was still covered by a clear patch taped over some cotton.

"I'm telling you, that's bullshit! No way cricket is more boring than baseball!" Finnick yelled.

"Hand to God short-arse! Do baseball games have a specific game type that can last up to five days?"

"Fucking unbelievable."

"Yeah, I told my Dad that. He said the pain I cause his heart was worse than when he got a gut shot in his engineer corps days!"

"Jeez, bro," another voice said. Judy turned and saw Luther's platypus brother Kyle perched on the end of the bar, typing away on his laptop.

"What? It's what he said!"

"Good to see you getting back to your old self, Luther," said Nick, interrupting the conversation. "And good to see you too, Fin."

"What, you think just because I nearly got killed that that's gonna change who I am?" Luther said, acknowledging the fox.

"You are carrying the gun on you now, in fairness," said Judy, pointing at the holster she could see under the badger's shirt.

"Yeah, well…maybe I'm a little more paranoid, alright?"

"And you're sure carrying a gun around while paranoid is the best thing? Especially with your lack of depth perception?" Judy gestured at his covered eye.

"Eh, only gotta keep this on for another day. Plus, I spent four years as a soldier, two of which I was deployed overseas. I spent more times carrying a gun while nervy than I care to admit. I can probably recognise immediate danger better than you, at least in a combat encounter. So, I am NOT going around defenceless while I can only use one of my arms. I know what trigger control is, I know how to identify civilians…"

"And your injuries don't hinder you in anyway?" Nick asked.

"Pfft, watch this!" Luther said. He moved to grab his gun, wincing in pain as he did so. As he tried to reach for it with his arm, drawing it slowly out of its holster, another wince of pain caused him to fumble with the pistol. It dropped to the floor, causing the civilian mammals around them who had seen one too many action movies to duck, afraid of it going off. Of course, that didn't happen because real life is surprisingly less tarrying than most movies, and guns are built so they don't go off when dropped.

Luther stared at the gun for a few seconds before sighing. "Yeah yeah, point taken. Kyle?" He turned to his brother. The platypus left his seat and picked up the gun, and to Nick and Judy's surprise he handled it expertly, emptying the unspent chamber bullet, taking out the magazine and placing the round from the chamber back in the magazine. "Cheers bro, can you put it in the safe under the bar?" Kyle nodded and did so. "What? We're army brats," Luther said to the surprised detectives. "You think our old man ain't gonna show us how to do that even if one of us didn't go in?"

"Sorry, just assumed Kyle didn't know how to handle a gun," Judy said, still stunned.

"Yeah, dad taught me while Luther was in the army. Technically illegal in the UK, but well, nothing anyone can do about that now."

"Why's that?"

"Hard to prosecute a dead man. Heart attack last year."

"Oh, sorry," Judy replied, unsure of what else to say. Kyle shrugged in response.

"I'm guessing this isn't a social call?" Luther asked, wincing slightly as he rotated his good arm.

"Partly," Judy said, and nodded over to Finnick. "Go talk to your friend, Nick, I got this," she added. Nick shrugged and went over to Fin, giving the fennec a fist bump as he sat. Judy turned her attention back to Luther as Kyle made his way over to his brother. She tried not to coo at the gesture of the platypus trying to protect his older, larger, and certainly more aggressive brother. Instead, she pulled out her phone and brought up the Interpol photo of the now deceased bat that she and Nick suspected was one of Luther's attackers. "Is this one of the mammals that assaulted you?" she asked, handing the phone to the badger.

After a few seconds of adjusting the phone due to his lack of depth perception, Luther stared at it and nodded. "Yeah, that was one of the bastards. You got him?" he asked, handing the phone back.

"Someone did," she answered. "He's dead."

"Wasn't me, though not for lack of hope," Luther admitted, smiling a little at the news. "What about the others?"

"Investigation is ongoing I'm afraid," said Judy. "But you're the closest we've got to someone who can identify him, and it helps. And we know you didn't do it," she continued, wanting to put any possibility of Luther being a suspect in the bat's murder to rest. Not that he seemed to be bothered by the idea.

"How'd it happen?"

"That I can't tell you, sorry," she responded. "It is part of an ongoing investigation, but we felt that in addition to you helping us identify this mammal it might make you feel better." That was true enough. This was one of those grey areas of law enforcement, giving what comfort you can to victims. Strictly speaking, the proper way would be to keep everything quiet until as late as possible, after the perpetrators had been caught for one. Police had to be seen doing their jobs, but at the same time playing your cards close to the chest was part of any investigation. It was always a bit murky when there was a still living victim factored into it all.

"I'm fine," Luther said, but his body language said something different. Judy was nowhere near as good at reading mammals via non-verbal cues as Nick was, but she'd picked up enough to know that Luther was more relaxed, mainly by how his good shoulder sagged slightly. Kyle, however, looked anything but relaxed. When Judy moved her eyes to him, Luther noticed and followed her gaze to his brother, who was doing his best to look tough. The wringing of his…paws? Hands? Flippers? Whatever they were, they were was also a dead giveaway.

"I am not going anywhere, bruv," Luther said, placing his arm on Kyle's shoulder. "Seems like these guys have got much bigger problems on their hands."

"You'd be correct there, but that's about all I can tell you. Sorry to bother you at work, felt it was better coming to you than you coming to us for the moment."

"Appreciated, thanks," Luther said.

"We best be heading out now. C'mon, Nick," Judy called to her partner. He looked up, nodded and said his goodbyes to Finnick, who waved to Judy in response. The detectives were shown out by Kyle, who locked the door behind them as they exited the entrance tunnel to the club.

"Well, least we got as close to a positive I.D. as we're going to get," Judy said, writing a few things in her notebook. "How's Finnick doing?" she asked.

"Seems to be OK. Harry's taking him on full time even after Luther gets back. Seem he's got a knack for the job," Nick replied

"Well, that's good to hear. We should take him out to celebrate."

"Yeah, we're gonna see him this weekend, if that's OK? And he asked if we could invite Kate, Bhrast and Minhele. He wants to apologise and pay for a round or two for ruining the other night."

"We'll see if they're up for it. Kate's back at school now but since it's the first few weeks her workload should be fine."

Judy hopped into the driver's seat as Nick entered the passenger side. She drove off after he buckled in, planning on doing nothing more arduous than some paperwork before heading home.

* * *

Detective Hunter, meanwhile, was annoyed that his day was dragging on and wished he was on his way home to his wife and kids. But no, here he was, three hours past his shift's end, all because he and his partner had been pulled into the shit by that damn rabbit and fox.

"Hey, cheer up Charlie, least we're not working that drug case anymore," his senior partner, Henry Coulton, said as he turned their car's wheel. They'd managed to wrap up a drugs investigation, which had been going on for months thanks to one of the major dealers skipping town. They'd cracked it finally, but it had dragged on for so long that it nearly went to the cold case files. It happened, but no detective liked admitting they couldn't solve a case.

"Yeah, but why the hell do we have to get dragged into Hopps and Wilde's bullshit?"

"Probably because Vines and Bogo are still annoyed when we tried to take that case off them all those months ago," Hunter answered, knowing full well that those two could hold a grudge like few other mammals.

"Or those shrimps got them to do it…" Coulton replied, but not with any conviction. Despite his dislike for them, he knew the two celebrity detectives wouldn't do that. They hadn't been detectives long enough to be that jaded and resentful.

"Yeah, they needed the real detectives to do the hard stuff," Coulton replied. That got a small laugh from the cougar. Henry always managed to get a laugh out of him. He was as cynical as any other detective with almost 25 years' experience, but he always managed to find the humour. His attitude managed to rub every other partner he had the wrong way, to the point where the ten-year veteran had run through one partner per annum until three years ago.

Turning back to the task at hand, Hunter asked, "So, you think this is gonna be worth it?"

"Probably not, but Bogo and Vines think it's worth talking to some of our contacts. I mean, since these new Triad guys need contacts within the city. Rumour is they burned their bridges with Big," Coulton replied.

"I guess, but the rest of the families would have to be nuts to go against him," Hunter said. "You were around when the last mob war went down, right?"

"Still a patrol-mammal at the time, but yeah, wasn't pretty, to put it mildly. Still, there were plenty of mammals who thought it was crazy to ally themselves with Big at the time, and he was the new kingpin on the block then."

"I guess," Hunter answered, shrugging. "So, who's this contact of yours?"

"Louie St Louis. Runs an Italian place not too far from the docks."

"Wait, he's Louie St Louis? So…Louie Louie?"

"Heh, yeah, but don't call him that more than once. He's a brown bear, and he used to run with the Stallion mob back when he was a kid. Got busted a few times and tried to turn over a new leaf."

"Tried?"

"Well, successful for the most part? He's friends with one of Big's lieutenants back when they were kids. Jack Khartoum."

"Wait, the same Jack Khartoum who cuts mammal's heads off?"

" _Allegedly_ cuts mammal's heads off. Never could get shit to stick, the fucking scum," Coulter replied. "But yeah, he and Jack have an agreement. Louis doesn't talk, Jack makes sure no one bothers him. They use his place as a neutral ground, for meetings and such. Also, he's been used as an alibi for some of the other higher-ups, so they're obviously somewhere public with good security cameras when, say, a rival ends up with a bullet in their head. Not that there's been anything like that for a while," he added. "Big keeps the other syndicates in line, but it's not like they did it out of politeness."

"So, if the agreement is that this guy doesn't talk, why would he tell us anything?" Hunter queried, turning down the street that Coulter had pointed at.

"Oh, he won't talk, but this way we get to hang out and get some of the best pasta in the city," Coulter said with a smirk. "Besides, I said this place is used as a sort of neutral ground for the syndicates in this part of the city. Might get lucky, find someone who _will_ talk."

Hunter shrugged. It wasn't the worst plan – they'd found enough leads through similar methods in the past. Besides, just because Hopps and Wilde were out of their depth didn't mean they were responsible for pulling their slack. "How the hell did Hopps and Wilde get in the MCU anyway?"

"Politics," Hunter said, tapping his nose with his hoof. "Look, fair play to them, they're good at their jobs for the most part. But I heard that Lionheart pulled some strings to get them into the MCU. They're a pred-prey pairing. Looks good for his opinion poll numbers."

"Yeah, but _we're_ a pred-prey pairing," Hunter pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're not sleeping with each other. The whole pred-prey relationship plays _really_ well with the younger voters."

"Fucking disgusting if you ask me," Hunter said, digging his claws into the steering wheel. "Mammals should be with their own kind, otherwise what was the point of getting together with someone? I mean, look at all that shit Captain Higgins at Precinct 99 caused all because he couldn't keep it in his pants around wolves. OK yes, he somehow doubted that Hopps and Wilde would end up going down that dark path. But it just makes no sense. How they gonna have kids?"

"Fuck knows, bud. Maybe they'll adopt an elephant or something?" Coulton answered with a huff. "Eh, fuck it, who cares."

"Well I do for a start," Hunter said. "What, you down for interspecies? Got your eyes on a polar bear for wife number four?"

"Fuck you, asshole," Coulton replied. "Nah, it's just…I dunno, can't be arsed giving a shit anymore, ya know. Not like it's gonna do anything."

"I guess," Hunter answered back, and though he was loathed to admit it, he agreed. He was raised by strict, loving parents. Some might say that their views were old-fashioned, but well, traditional and stable family values had founded America, and every year it seemed some of that stability was eroded. That being said, a lot of the things they'd said would happen, things like if gay marriage came to be then mammals would be fornicating in the streets, hadn't happened. And Hunter had seen what happened when people really went too far with the same lessons he'd been taught. Disagreeing with gay marriage was one thing, but trying to kill your daughter because she was marrying another doe? Senseless.

"There's Louie's on the left. Just park across the street, no parking restrictions at this time of night," Coulton said, pointing to a gap between two cars. Hunter obliged, pulling into the space. As he applied the paw brake and and unbuckled his belt, he heard Coulton mumble 'shit.'

"What? Closed early?" Hunter asked as he looked to his partner. Something had spooked Coulton enough that he hadn't even unbuckled yet, as he was still staring out the window. He followed the horse's gaze, looking through the large plate glass window that let them see into the restaurant. He didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, aside from the restaurant seeming a little quiet for this time of night. Only a few people were eating, and only a couple of mammals were at the bar. Looked like a nice place though.

"Table next to the bar, left side," Coulton gestured with a hoof. Hunter followed it and saw two mammals locked in discussion. One horse, and one panda.

"Oh…" Hunter replied, putting two and two together. "Hold on." He brought out his phone and scrolled through some pictures, pulling up an image Bogo had sent him before they set out earlier that evening. He looked at the panda in the picture and back to the one in the restaurant. Hard to tell at this distance, but he looked very similar to the one in the photo. "So, if that's this Dragon guy, who's the other mammal?" Hunter asked, looking at the dark brown…possibly black horse. He seemed familiar too, the white mark on his head prominent amid his dark fur coloring.

"That's Jack Khartoum," Coulton answered. "That cannot be just a casual chat."

"Damn right," Hunter said, reaching for the car door. "Come on, let's get the bastard."

"Better report this in first. If that is the panda, he's already killed at least one polar bear in the city with his fists."

"Bullshit," Hunter said, shaking his head. "You ever heard of a mammal that small killing a polar bear?"

"No, but I also never heard of a rabbit knocking out a rhino before Hopps turned up," Coulton answered.

"And I call bullshit on that as well," Hunter said. He hadn't believed that for a second, even if the rhino in question, Officer Rotaxes, had 'confirmed' the story. Hunter hadn't put it past Hopps to pay him off to boost her reputation up. "Look, even if he did do that, he was unarmed. We've got guns."

"Guns that we're not supposed to use unless absolutely necessary…though I'd say going up against a Triad is a good enough reason. But let's not confront him in the restaurant, OK? Too many civvies."

Hunter nodded in agreement. In his haste to get this supposed killer panda, he'd almost made a rookie mistake putting civilians in danger. "In that case, let's wait until he leaves and follow him, see if we can get him alone."

"Good idea," Coulton agreed and went to grab the car's radio.

"What are you doing?" Hunter asked.

"Calling it in, kid," Coulton answered, but his hoof was stayed by Hunter's paw.

"Come on, man," the cougar said. "Think we can't take a panda? A prey species that weighs the same as me and about, what? A third of what you do? OK no, make that a fifth."

"Oh, fuck off," Coulton said, but he did withdraw his hoof from the radio. "Yeah, it'd be a feather in our caps if we get the fucker ourselves. Might even get us on the MCU shortlist."

"Plus, it would piss off Wilde and Hopps," Hunter said, snickering afterwards. Coulton nodded, and the two settled down to wait, watching the conversation between the panda and Khartoum. After an hour, the restaurant had cleared out, and the two mammals got up and shook on whatever they had been discussing. Khartoum left first, taking a short walk down the street and getting into his Mustang that growled as it drove off. The panda remained at his seat, seemingly having ordered a dessert…no, make that three desserts. He was staring vacantly out of the window. After a while, he finished the last piece of cake, picked up a bag from the floor that the two detectives hadn't been able to see, and made his way out of the restaurant. He turned immediately to his right, walking briskly away.

Waiting a few seconds for the panda to gain a lead, Hunter and Coulton exited their car and followed on the opposite side of the street. There were a few pedestrians around, but not enough for them to get any closer without arousing suspicion. After a couple of blocks, the panda turned lazily into a shop, causing the detectives to pause and duck out of sight. A few seconds later, the panda came out, a plastic bottle in his hand. He continued for another block before suddenly turning sharply and running down an alley.

"Shit!" Hunter cursed, running across the street and drawing his gun. He sprinted ahead of his partner, who called out to him to slow down, but he couldn't. After all this, he couldn't just let this bastard go. Besides, he was a panda, no way he could out-sprint a cougar over this short of a distance. Coulton would catch up easily enough, anyway.

Hunter approached the alley at a dead run, slowing down only a bit to take the corner and step into the mouth of the alley.

Pity the panda, about ten metres away, had a shotgun up and waiting for him.

He heard the boom, felt a huge pain in his side, and found himself flying sideways, his ribs screaming in agony. He slammed into the alley wall and fell over, landing with a grunt on his front. Panic. Disorientation. _Oh shit, I've been shot ohshitohshitohshit,_ Hunter thought, waiting for the cold, burning sensation of the shotgun wound to start and really hoping his partner wasn't too far behind so he could be ready to call in an ambulance. But after a few seconds, he felt nothing but the incessant throbbing in his ribs. He touched them, and aside from an increased intensity to the throbbing, felt nothing else. No blood or exposed skin. His hearing had been temporarily affected by the blast being so close, but the high-pitched ringing started to abate just as he heard what sounded like footsteps running.

 _Thank Christ, it's Coulton,_ Hunter thought at first. However, the sound of running started to lessen, meaning it was someone running away from the scene, not towards it. Knowing his partner wouldn't be the one to run, he assumed the panda had left… but where was Coulton? Struggling to breathe, the cougar rolled over, hoping to see his friend arriving.

Instead, he saw the unmoving form of Coulton on his back and missing a good chunk of his chest.

"COULTON!" Hunter tried to scream as he scrambled over to his friend. "C'MON MAN, GET UP! COULTON!" he screamed. The pain in his ribs was forgotten, as a greater one started up in his head and stomach. He made it to his friend and began shaking him, even as the last rational part of his brain told him that it was already far too late.

Nearby, a voice he didn't recognise started speaking frantically. "Yes, I need an ambulance! Someone's been shot! A police horse, I think. He's…I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Not needing to wait for the ambulance to confirm it, Hunter collapsed over his partner and wept.


	14. Escalation

Chief Bogo glanced over the documents in front of him and sighed. No matter how many times he read them, they didn't seem to change the answer, and every time he came to same conclusion the knot in his stomach tightened a bit more.

If things continued on their current course, a full-scale mob war would come to Zootopia.

Going by the evidence in front of him, a casual observer might not reach the same conclusion. They would see the ZPD keeping an eye on persons of interest. Mammals having meals, casual chats, and so forth. True, some of these mammals had never spoken to each other before, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Pointing out that most of them were suspected members of various gangs and crime families might not even register to them. But Bogo hadn't gotten to where he was by missing the small details and not knowing how the wind was blowing. OK, yes, fair's fair that he had missed something big with regards to certain ZPD applicants being capable police officers, but he admitted those mistakes. When it came to crime though, he knew what he was seeing, knew how to read between the lines.

He was glad that the detectives in the MCU had seen it too, and as a department, they had brought it to his attention. Several investigations were starting to overlap, too much not to be noticed by Captain Vines and his squad. The worst part of it was that this had all started after the death of Detective Henry Coulton last week. Usually, when an officer died, the crime families kept their heads down. The ZPD had a lot of things to investigate, but a police officer's death in the line of duty, whatever the reason, garnered a lot of attention from their fellow officers. Enough that the families did their best to stay out of sight, especially if it was suspected that one of their own had done the deed. That hadn't been the case for years; most police officers' deaths, as infrequent as they were, were usually because of arriving at domestic disputes where one mammal had a shotgun, or some mammal with a grudge of some kind against some part of society suddenly snapped.

That being said, a decade ago, before Bogo became chief, the death of an officer might have been celebrated due to corruption and plain racism on the part of the officers. That had improved a lot after he took office, but even he had to admit the force still had its issues. His own views on smaller mammals had clouded his judgement for a long time on how valuable they could really be. Hopps proved him wrong on that, and then his views on foxes had almost caused him to do the same thing to Wilde when he first joined.

And now here they were, in front of him and about to take on one of the hardest jobs he could ask of detectives. He was confident they would rise to the occasion, but that confidence had been proven to be misplaced before. However, that was more his issue than theirs.

He looked up from the documents to the two mammals who were sat across from him, in a chair that was still far larger than necessary for them. He really had to do something about that at some point. "So, Detectives, are you ready?"

"As ready as we can be under the circumstances, sir," Judy answered, gathering copies of the same documentation the chief had. Nick did the same, having remained uncharacteristically silent during the discussion, or at least as quiet as he could be during a conversation.

"You OK, Wilde?" Bogo asked.

"Just a bit contemplative, sir. If you told me I'd be put in this position five years ago, I'd have laughed."

"Well I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think you were capable of it," Bogo pointed out.

"What about Internal Affairs, sir?" asked Nick.

"I spoke with Bagheera this morning. Considering the facts of the case, and the work you've done so far, we've decided you could probably do without the additional stress worrying if Internal Affairs thinks you're doing the right thing. You're gonna have enough stress with… well, everything else. So, consider the matter closed."

"Good to hear sir, thank you," Nick said genuinely. Bogo knew the fox hid it well, but he was always concerned about how people viewed the only fox on the police force, more so on how that might reflect on his fiancée than anything else.

"Now, let's get this out of the way," Bogo said, and made to stand. He led the way out of his office and down to the first floor's bullpen, holding the door for Wilde and Hopps after entering himself. Normally, this room would be used for handing out assignments for the regular on-the-beat officers, but today it was serving a different purpose and was packed to the rafters (literally, in the case of giraffe officer Melman). While some of the officers inside were still beat officers from Precinct One, the rest had been ordered here from the other precincts. Among the crowd was also a small smattering of detectives. In the corner at the back stood Captain Samuel Vines of the Major Crimes Unit. As Hopps and Wilde's superior officer, he was going to be there, but by his stance, he was taking a paws-off approach to the presentation. Bogo liked that; it showed that Vines trusted his two newest detectives, and as such, they were doing a good enough job to warrant that trust. He'd deny it with his dying breath, but Bogo had a soft spot for his two smallest officers, and it was good to see them thriving in their new roles. It gave him more confidence that this presentation to the officers would go well.

A little more concerning was that after this, the pair would have to address the press as well. Or rather, Wilde would. No one was putting Hopps in front of a camera again if it could be avoided. It still made Bogo chuckle a little that she would rather face down a herd of stampeding elephants than answer a few questions from the press, though considering what had happened the last time she was answering questions on a major story, he understood.

"Alright, alright, shut your mouths and listen up!" Bogo bellowed, causing the assembled officers to quiet down and pay attention. "We've got a lot to get through in a short time. I'll let Detectives Hopps and Wilde go through the major details, but I will say that what we discuss does not leave this group of officers here unless given authority by Detectives Hopps and Wilde. Are we clear?"

That really got the officers' attention.

"Hopps?" Bogo gestured to her. As Nick was going to be talking to press, she was going to brief the officers, as it was less likely to cause a riot. Again.

"Thank you, sir," Judy said as she hopped easily onto the podium. Nick moved to a computer nearby, clambering up the chair. A round of sniggering rose from some of the officers from other precincts, though those stopped because of the myriad glares from the assembled Precinct One officers. Nick placed a USB drive in the computer, which was linked to a projector on the ceiling that pointed at the screen behind Judy.

"Thank you for coming today, everyone," Judy said as the projector powered on. She turned to Nick, who waved a small, in his paws at least, remote and lightly tossed it to her. She caught it in both paws. While not overly large for her, she shifted it under her arm so she would have one free hand ready to progress with the slides. "As you are no doubt aware, one of our own was gunned down last week in pursuit of a dangerous criminal. This briefing is to appraise you of the situation with said criminal and his associates, and to inform you that you are all now part of Operation Triad, the naming of which will become clear in a few moments." She tapped a button on the remote, bringing up the first slide. Behind her, the screen flickered to life and showed the mugshot of one rather muscular panda.

"This is the criminal known as Dragon. Official identity unknown, but what little information we know from the Chinese authorities is that he turned up on the streets of Hong Kong at a very young age. Alone and uncared for, he soon became an errand boy for the local Triad-organised crime families before working his way up the ranks to become the chief enforcer of the Jade Triad, the largest and most powerful group in the city for the last thirty years. Convicted of multiple assaults, batteries, robberies, and extortion, and suspected in at least four murders of government officials and rival gang leaders. He spent very little time in jail due to the rampant corruption in the city's law enforcement division. He served under this mammal." She paused as the slide changed, showing an aged red panda. "Known as the Master, but officially named Shifu Dá Sī Tīng. The leader of the Jade Triad for twenty of those last thirty years after, allegedly, murdering his superior, one Xīniú Dēngguāng, a rhino. Said rhino was found with multiple cuts to the throat, his eyes removed and placed in his mouth. And no, that is not hyperbole. There are photos in the dossiers that will be provided at the end of the presentation. They are… not pleasant," she finished before forcing herself not to shudder. She then continued to list the other members of the Jade Triad they were tracking, flicking through mugshots as she did so. "The other members are Tai Lung Wuxi, snow leopard; Liu Tiānshǐ, mongoose; Rogen Gao, rat; Jo Li Shé, tigress; and finally, Tran Jiāochā, fruit bat."

"Roughly five years ago, as part of a campaign to get rid of corruption in the force, the Chinese authorities removed most of the high-ranking police officials in Hong Kong and placed the remaining officers under the command of Chief Inspector Tequila. One of his first actions was a campaign of raids against the Triads, and he was so successful that he managed to dismantle some of the oldest Triad families in just under four years, including the Jade Triad. Most of these members were either arrested or killed during the raids, but unfortunately, the mammals in Shifu's inner circle, the ones we just discussed, escaped. Eventually, they made it here, to Zootopia."

She let the fact sink in for a few seconds, watching the officers' reactions. While most were interested, there were a few wary looks. She glanced to the front row and saw Officers Bhrast Akela and Kelsey Sabor taking notes. Judy was glad they were there, especially Bhrast. The wolf's investigative skills were gonna be useful in this. Judy cleared her throat loudly, causing the minor bustle to die down from the assembled mammals. She continued with the presentation.

"The next parts of this are speculative at best due to the nature of the case. Detective Wilde and I were called to the middle of one of Sahara Square's deserts where a polar bear victim was discovered dead, desiccated after being buried in the arid landscape for maybe two to three weeks. During the course of our investigation, we discovered this bear had multiple injuries, but the cause of death was that they had been beaten to death by a mammal a third of their size. Possibly a panda. And that polar bear was Kevin Koslov, a major enforcer to the Tundratown crime syndicate and suspected of being under the employ of Mr Big."

Any officer who hadn't been paying attention was suddenly all ears. Judy looked over at Nick, who nodded slightly, urging her to continue. "These mammals have also been identified in the assault of one Luther Hill, a badger who only survived because of his extensive military training and his access to a pistol and a shotgun. There was also an assault on two Flying Rhinos gang members, who they just couldn't be bothered dealing with. And it gets worse — we now have a further two associates of the Big mob dead along with two other mammals, all killed at the penthouse of the Zootopia Deluxe apartments. One Raymond Koslov, brother to the first victim, and a member of the Stone-Cold Killers gang, Julius Hopperson. Along with those victims, two members of the Jade Triad were found dead as well. The first, Tran Jiāochā, was found having had the entire lower right quarter of his body bitten out of him by Raymond Kozlov presumably, since the rest of his remains were found inside Raymond's mouth." Judy took a second to scan the room to see how the officers had reacted to that. It was very likely they'd encountered similar scenes in their time on the force. Most seemed to take it as well as expected; she didn't expect anyone not to get at least queasy at this.

"I have a question!" a voice she didn't recognise called out. Judy swiveled toward the voice and saw a male lion beat officer with his hand raised, but in the most sarcastic way possible. Before Judy could react, telling him to hold his question to the end of the presentation, he continued. "How come you and the fox are in charge? Sounds like politics to me, am I right, guys?" he asked, turning to the other officers. While some seemed to nod in agreement, he seemed surprised that the majority of the police in the room were now glaring at him. Judy rolled her eyes as the officer looked around in confusion. She sometimes forgot that some police were still not happy about having a meek bunny and a sly fox on the force and detectives no less, an act which was possible thanks to her supportive superiors and colleagues.

Who, she noticed, weren't saying anything. She quickly looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Bogo just on the edge of her vision, a smug grin on his face. She quickly glanced to Vines and saw a similar one on his muzzle. A further glance revealed the others that knew her, or her reputation, also had some grins. She didn't need to look behind her to know Nick would be wearing his smuggest grin, the one he knew infuriated her. _Well, time to nip this one in the bud_ , she thought.

Judy bounced in place once, and then leapt in the air high above the heads of the mammals in front. She landed with a purposefully heavy thud in front of the unfortunate lion, who visibly jumped. "Do you have something to say to me, Officer… Prince?" Judy asked, looking down at his badge.

Surprised by the bunny's actions, Office Prince turned to Chief Bogo and opened his mouth to speak. However, Judy reached up into his open mouth, placed her paw carefully around one of his lower incisors, and yanked the lion's mouth down to force him to look at her. Many mammals gasped in response — she literally had the lion by the teeth. "I was the one who asked the question Officer, not Bogo. Do you understand?" The lion, not having many options, nodded slowly. "Good. What's your first name?"

"Uhhh…" the lion managed, his mouth becoming incredibly dry from being open and Judy's growing intensity. He sounded terrified.

"John Prince, yes?" The lion nodded, Judy's paw still around his tooth. "Well John, the reason myself and Detective Wilde will be in charge is that we've been detectives for over a year, we've been working this case from the beginning, we've faced down the leader of the most powerful crime family in the city, along with his very large amount of polar bear enforcers, and we are still alive. If you also forgot, we uncovered the largest conspiracy in the city during my first couple of months on the force. What I mean to say, John, is that we are very, _very_ good at our jobs and know this case inside out. Do you understand?"

Nod.

"Do you think this is still political? Just shake your head if you don't."

Shake.

"Also, while I don't know you personally John, your captain did say that you were one of his best street people, knowing the ins and out of your precinct like the back of your paw. He also mentioned your commendation for spending almost 16 hours looking for a lost cub, who you miraculously did find. Skills like that is why you were recommended for this task force, which will help with your promotion prospects. What _will not help_ is being sent back to your precinct for being a racist lump who'd rather make snide comments behind the backs of his direct superiors, which myself and Detective Wilde will be while you are on this assignment. Got it?"

Emphatic nod.

"Good," she finished, and finally removed her paw from his tooth. John kept his mouth open in shock, and Judy glanced around to find that others were looking at her paw in terror.

"Oh, that?" she said, wriggling her paw in the air as she turned back to John. "Predator teeth don't scare me." She lowered her voice an octave before continuing. "In fact, I really quite enjoy them, as my fiancé Detective Wilde can attest to."

She smiled as she saw John's ears turn bright red and felt the heat coming off him in waves. The rest of the mammals were silent, until Bhrast Akela burst out laughing, followed by Kelsey and then the rest of the room. "Get used to it newbies, it gets worse!" Bhrast managed to say in between guffaws.

"Alright, settle down everyone," Judy said as she hopped back over to the podium. "Now that we've established the pecking order, back to work. Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, I was telling you about murder victims," she reminded, which got the last few chuckling officers to calm down. "The final victim found at the scene of the hotel was the previously mentioned Shifu, the leader of the Jade Triad. The interesting thing about his death is that he was found to have been killed by a quick, simple break of the neck. Why? We don't know, but due to what has happened after this, we suspect Dragon killed him and took control of the remaining Jade Triad members. He was spotted last week in the company of one of the high-ranking lieutenants of the mafia… by Detectives Charlie Hunter and Henry Coulton.

That caught everyone's attention.

"Yes, that Henry Coulton. The one who was murdered by Dragon, which is part of why you're all here." Judy sighed. "I know what some of you are thinking," she said, making sure she was staring Officer Prince in the eye. "He's a panda, a leaf eater, harmless, right? Even with everything I've told you, I can see that some of you might not be taking this seriously. You. Are. Wrong. And if you're not careful, you'll be DEAD wrong, just like Coulton. He was given all the information you have, that these mammals are deadly with hand-to-hand combat and seem to have acquired firearms, but he and his partner still thought they could take him. On their own. They didn't even call in the sighting, and now Coulton is dead, having given his life to save his partner."

She let the words sink in. Looking around the room, she was glad to see the message seemed to be getting through to most mammals; even the rhinos and elephants were looking wary. "Now that you have some idea of how dangerous this ONE mammal is, remember, there are four more just like him who are still alive."

Judy then went on to list the injuries that were identified on Kevin's body, making sure they were well aware of the internal one inflicted by the rat, Rogen. She then prompted Nick to show the security footage of the assault on Luther Hill. As the scene unfolded, she said, "Again I must reiterate that the only reason Mr Hill survived was his military training and luck. Without those, he would have bled out on the bar floor.

"So, what we have here are five mammals who are merciless killers with their bare hands and are seemingly determined to take on the biggest crime syndicate in the city out of either bravado or desperation. And unfortunately, they seem to be gaining support for this venture from the other crime families. Officer Wilde and I have been receiving witness reports since Coulton's murder, and we seem to be hitting on a pattern. Witnesses have spotted them all in conversation with various crime families. Dragon talking with Jack Khartoum was just the start. It's too early to be sure, but we think they're gathering allies for a push against Big's territory. That means mob war, and we're going to stop it." She took a breath and ploughed on. "The purpose of Operation Triad is to stop that from happening. We need to find these mammals before this gets any worse. We've got enough problems with the current gangs in the city without them trying to kill each other. That's why all of you will be out in the city tracking down any leads. Many of you have connections with the crime syndicates in question. Use them. Hell, if we're lucky we'll get enough evidence to put those guys behind bars, too. But our top priority must be to stop a mob war from breaking out into the streets, because that means members of the public will be caught in the crossfire. Are you up to it?"

"SIR YES SIR!" the mammals rang out, something Judy didn't expect. Momentarily flustered by the response, she got herself together.

"I want you to study these documents today. Tomorrow, we'll be handing out assignments to teams, and due to the dangers involved, you will all be armed with lethal ammunition. While on this case, you WILL check in as per spec. You WILL NOT engage these mammals without calling for backup if you can help it. Detective Wilde and I will be lead investigators, but be aware our orders will be backed by Captain Vines and Chief Bogo… and that includes double time on all hours worked on this case and bonuses for everyone when we catch them." That revelation got a small smattering of applause.

"Now for the fun part. We'll also be informing the public of the danger these mammals pose… and there will be a tip line set up." The groan that came from almost every mouth was about on par with what she expected. "Yeah, I know, I know, but it's needed. Mammals on the task force will be tasked with manning the phones on that line." Another round of groans, louder and more heartfelt. "Oh, and John?" Judy got the lion's attention. "You're on that until I say otherwise," she said with a smug grin. John went to protest, but thought better of it and nodded. Judy would only keep him there for a couple of days. His file showed that he was too good of a beat cop to keep him there, but someone had to be the first mammal on it.

"You'll all be based in Precinct One for the duration of this investigation. Please make your way to the spare offices past the MCU and begin reading through the dossiers. Detectives Salica von Fledermaus and Angua von Uberwolf will be there to field questions and help with the case. Detective Wilde and I will be taking part in a press conference in a little bit, and we'll join you soon after to start assigning tasks. Dismissed."

After the room cleared, Judy took a deep breath and sighed. "Great work, Carrots," Nick said as he walked over to the podium, extending an arm to help her down. While she could easily get down herself, the small gesture of chivalry from her mate was appreciated.

"I'll say," Captain Vines praised. "Good work on handling Prince. Shows the rest of them who's in charge."

"Indeed," Bogo said as he joined them. "You sure you don't want to speak to the press…?" he started to say, but when Judy's eyes went wide with terror, he chuckled. "Just kidding. I think Wilde will fare better there."

"No issues there, Chief," Nick said.

"Good. Now let's get this over with, and when today is over with I expect you both to get some sleep. I'm seeing a lot of restless nights in our immediate futures."

"Ah, the rewards of public service," Nick said with no attempt at hiding the sarcasm. Judy rolled her eyes as Bogo led the way out of the room, followed by herself, Nick, and Captain Vines bringing up the rear. This meant than when Bogo stopped short, the two smaller mammals were momentarily squeezed between the others as Nick walked into the back of Bogo's legs, followed by Judy and Vines in short order. Confused, the detectives looked around the bulk of Bogo to see what the hold-up was. And they were immediately dismayed to see that Charlie Hunter was blocking their way.

"Hunter. Glad to see you're up and about," Bogo said softly, though there was the merest hint of disapproval in his voice.

"Thank you, sir," Hunter replied and saluted, despite being so obviously off duty. The cougar was wearing grey sweatpants and a black faded Gnus and Roses t-shirt, and judging by the dark rings under his eyes, he had not been sleeping well. He also winced slightly, obviously still in pain from where his partner had tackled him out of the way.

"No need for that," Bogo said, despite returning a half-hearted salute himself. "Especially since you're off duty for recovery. At least, that's what the captain of your own precinct has told me."

"I'm fit for duty, sir," Hunter said as he slowly lowered his arm.

"I somehow doubt that," Captain Vines chimed in.

"With respect sir, that's not your decision to make."

"Perhaps, but you still look like you would keel over if I poked you in the ribs," Vines said, jabbing a finger towards the cougar, who flinched in response.

"Why are you here, Hunter?" Judy asked, causing Hunter to notice Nick and her for the first time. After a few seconds, he simply turned back to the two larger mammals.

"I wish to volunteer for the task force you are setting up for the Triads…"

"How the hell do you know about that!?" Bogo hissed between his teeth. "We just informed the involved officers and haven't made it public yet."

"Well, I didn't know until you just confirmed it, sir," Hunter replied with a hint of smugness. "My friends at Precinct 26 kept me in the loop that a few of their number had been called to a meeting today here. My colleagues in the other precincts told me the same. And when I followed the officers from my precinct here, then saw all of them come out of the bullpen, well... I made an educated guess. I think that shows that I would make an excellent asset to the team."

"No way," Nick and Judy answered together.

"I don't remember asking you pelts," Hunter snarled.

"ENOUGH!" Bogo shouted, drawing the eyes of the few mammals in the hallway, who all quickly made sure they were elsewhere. "You are on very thin ice, Detective. Especially when you just insulted the leaders of the task force you want to join…"

"THEM!?" Hunter cried, shocked at the revelation. "But they're the ones who fucked this up in the first place! If they had done their job, Coulton would still be alive."

A snarl from Nick caught everyone's attention, and as they all stared at him he looked ready to go for Hunter's throat. Judy, however, placed a paw on his and he stopped immediately. He looked down at her as she shook her head. He huffed, shrugged, and then waved towards Hunter, letting her take the lead.

"Hunter," she began, her voice steady. "Even if you weren't injured, you would in no way have been selected for the task force. For one, you're too close to the case now." She paused at that, not revelling in the hypocrisy of the statement, even if it was true. "And even if you weren't, your actions clearly show you are not suited..."

"Listen, long ears…"

"Shut. Up," Judy interrupted, slamming her foot to add emphasis. "You and your partner went against procedure and orders, and you attempted to apprehend a dangerous mammal by yourselves. You didn't call it in, you underestimated him, and if it wasn't for your partner, YOU would have been the one to pay the price. Actually, no scratch that. It would have been you and your family that would have paid. Kids growing up without a father, your wife a widow. Did you want that Hunter? To miss them grow up? For your wife to lose the person, who for some reason, is the love of their life? The possibility of her having to find comfort with another mammal? Your kids maybe having a different father figure in their life? Is that why you tried to play hero?"

Silence filled the world for a few seconds until Nick had to ruin the mood. "Damn Carrots. You taking night howler on the sly? Cos that was _savage_."

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Hunter roared, taking a step towards Judy and raising his paws. Before anyone else could react, Vines stepped forward, pressed both his paws on the sides of Hunter's chest and _squeezed._ The effect was immediate, Hunter's recent injury causing him to let out a cry of pain before Vines released him, making Hunter drop to the ground.

After the cougar had stopped writhing on the floor in pain, Vines lifted him up, spun him around and cuffed him. "Detective Hunter, you are under arrest for the attempted assault on Detective Hopps."

"I didn't fucking touch her…" Hunter said, his voice wheezing.

"Which is probably the only reason neither her nor Wilde have your blood on their paws. Now, we're going to take a walk to the cells so you can calm down. Afterwards, I'm fairly sure Bogo, your captain, and Internal Affairs will want a nice chat afterwards. Isn't that right, sir?" Vines finished, turning to the police chief.

Bogo nodded in response. With that, the wolf led the pained cougar towards the holding cells of Precinct One.

"You'd think he would have learned a lesson from his partner's death," Nick said, placing a paw on Judy's shoulder. The rabbit hadn't flinched for a second, but the way her nose was twitching betrayed a moment of fear that had erupted within her before her fight-or-flight response had kicked in. "You OK, babe?"

"I'm fine. You?" Judy responded, letting out a shallow breath.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you have your tranq pistol out of its holster," Judy said, pointing to Nick's other paw as she turned to face him. Nick glanced to said paw and back to her, seemingly surprised to find it there.

"Huh, guess my paws were thinking faster than my head. Not sure if that's a good thing."

"I'll let it slide if you put the damn thing away, Wilde," Bogo said, covering his eyes with one hoof. "I'll take care of Hunter later. You both still good for the press conference?"

"I'm pretty sure being hopped up on adrenaline won't help too much, but yes sir," Nick said, Judy nodding in response as well.

* * *

An hour later, in a safehouse owned by one of the city's crime families, Liu knocked on the door of Dragon and Jo Li's shared bedroom. A few seconds later, the door was opened by the unkempt form of Dragon.

"You're gonna wanna see this boss," she said before tapping on her phone. On his nightstand, Dragon's own phone buzzed. The panda nodded at Liu and quietly shut the door, not wanting to wake Jo Li. He retrieved it and clicked the EweTube link Liu sent him, making sure to keep the volume down.

"This is ZNN at Precinct One, where Chief Bogo has called a special press event…" the video began. Dragon watched in silence for the full length of the conference. Then watched it again. After the third viewing, he got up and dressed before waking Jo Li.

"Get the others, and contact the representatives of our alliance. The shit just hit the fan."


	15. Shrewd Operation

"I told you it was a waste of time," Jack Khartoum said as the members of the other syndicates left the meeting. He lay back in the large armchair he had taken in the sitting room of the safe house his organisation was letting Dragon and his crew used. The horse took a drag on his cigarette and flicked it into a nearby ashtray (an impressive feat for someone with hooves). "Going up against Big is one thing, but him _and_ the ZPD? That's just plain dumb."

"But it's just a fox and rabbit…" Dragon said, knowing his mistake as soon as he saw Khartoum roll his eyes.

"Yes, and you're just a panda," Khartoum answered. He lit another cigarette. "Look Dragon, even at the best of times, the crime families are wary about going against the ZPD. But to do what you're proposing? Good luck."

"But if we take out…"

"Would you listen to yourself? That whole 'take out the head and the rest of the snake dies' thing only works on said reptiles. Not on a bloody government agency. Unlike Hong Kong, most of our cops haven't been corrupt for decades. Even the few we do have on our payroll go no higher than a desk sergeant. What? You expecting to kill two detectives and then the whole ZPD will just quietly ignore you? Hah."

That faux laugh at the end really got to Dragon, and he knew it showed on his face, but he didn't really care at this point.

"Look, kid…"

"We're the same age, Jack," Dragon shot back. He was probably wrong, but he'd be damned if he was going to be talked down to by someone the likes of Khartoum.

"Fine, point taken," Khartoum replied, his tone less pandering. "We've all been there, wanting to make our mark, show our strength. And yes, honestly? You might have just the right amount of brains and brawn to take on Big. He's getting older, and maybe a little softer. Maybe some of our more enterprising members can see someone they can get behind, increase their stake in the city. But there's a difference between going to war with Big and trying to start a fight with the ZPD. Even the aforementioned vole doesn't do that. He makes sure they don't have a reason to start one with him because he knows he'd lose."

Dragon mulled the advice over and conceded. This wasn't Hong Kong… or rather, how Hong Kong used to be a few years ago. "So what do you suggest?"

"Honestly? Fuck if I know. The situation has become too hard and too fast to predict. Killing that cop after our meeting was a bad idea."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?"

"Keep running?"

"And show fear?"

"Yes? Fear keeps you alive and out of prison."

"Is that why you've been absent for the last week?"

"Actually, that was to attend my brother's wedding. He and his husband live in Las Vegas."

"Husband?" Dragon asked.

"Yup. Bit of an embarrassment to the Stallieone family, Lil' Vito is. But I never had any issues with it. As long as he's happy. But they shipped him out there to run some of our casinos and they don't like to talk about him much."

"So the crime families here are a bunch of cowards…" Dragon muttered, returning to the original point. Once again, the look on Jack's face told him he'd said the wrong thing.

"Pragmatic, maybe," Khartoum said and took another drag on his cigarette before stubbing it out on the desk and getting out of his chair. "I think you need to think about your next move. It'd probably be in your best interest to keep things on the down low for a few weeks. No one is going to move against Big with the entire ZPD after you." With that, he made his way out the door of the safe house, and a few seconds later, the booming of his car's engine could be heard as he drove away.

Dragon shook his head and made his way to the back of the house. OK, 'house' was a bit of a misnomer; it was really a couple of houses, situated in a quiet cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Zootopia. The rest of the houses on the street were still being built, so they had the whole street to themselves. He exited the house and saw the rest of the Triads hanging out by the large pool in the garden. Jo Li was wearing a one-piece bathing suit and was lying back on a pool recliner, a book on the table next to her. Rogen and Liu were sharing an inflatable bed in the pool, both wearing their own swimsuits and soaking up the sun (which he never understood the appeal of — they both had dense fur that covered their entire bodies, it's not like it would change colour). Surprisingly, Tai was working a grill, wearing a pair of shorts and a plain white shirt. The smell of cooking meat made Dragon baulk a little, but he had gotten used to it since dating Jo Li. She needed meat after all.

"How'd it go?" Tai asked as he flipped a burger before taking a swig of the beer he held in his other paw.

"Honestly? Not as I would have wanted," Dragon answered as he sat down. Jo Li passed him a beer as he did, and he took a drink. "They're cowards."

"Perhaps," Tai said. "Or pragmatic."

"Maybe you should be the one talking to him. He said the same thing," Dragon clarified, not wanting to insinuate Tai was a coward. The snow leopard shrugged in response. "He's probably right though," Dragon conceded. "I just thought it would make going after Big easier if we discouraged the police, but there's no practical way to make that happen."

"And killing the darlings of the police force would be really stupid anyway," Liu shouted from the pool.

Dragon nodded at her. It had been a strange flight of fancy, but yes, now that he had calmed down he could see their points. The mongoose had been doing research on the pair, if one could call spending an inordinate amount of time on Zoogle _research._ But Dragon bowed to Liu's expertise on such matters.

Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde had essentially become of symbols to the city. Solving that whole night howler conspiracy, working together in the police force, falling in love. It was the perfect story. There was probably a lot more to it than that, but that's what the public saw. You didn't get to be a police detective without putting the work in, especially when you were less than five years into your career.

Thinking back on the conversation with Khartoum, Dragon was a little annoyed at himself for making statements that showed he was underestimating the pair. Dragon himself had used that to his own advantage a few times. Very few pandas could beat a polar bear to death after all. He'd also been on the receiving end of underestimating mammals before. Hell, that had happened only recently with that damned badger at the bar, although ultimately, it'd been the Master who'd paid that price. However, since the recent revelations about his past with Tai and Jo Li, Dragon wasn't too upset by that.

He'd mused on the conversation he'd had with the rest of the Triad after their escape from the penthouse. They'd taken the fact that he'd killed their leader rather well, all things considered, though he was sure Rogen kept looking at him as if he expected the same from the panda. But then again, he often looked like that. Dragon would do his best to allay those concerns regardless. He'd never wanted to take power from the Master like that, and he was unsure he wanted it to begin with, but here he was.

"So… maybe going after these two isn't the best way forward…" Dragon mused. "We focus on Big, and we try and keep out of the task force's way as much as possible."

"Might be an idea to just hold off on the whole thing for a while," Jo Li mused as she flicked a page in her book.

"I don't think so," Rogen said from the pool. "I mean, Big can't be too happy with us killing another set of his enforcers. We can hide from the ZPD, and we can hide from Big, but not both."

"So, what are you suggesting?" Dragon asked.

"Go for the throat," Rogen said. "Go hard against Big, show him we mean business."

"He already knows we mean business," Tai said, placing a burger in between two buns and taking a bite. "Could always do the old 'fake truce' ambush. But I doubt Big would fall for it."

"Definitely not," Dragon replied. "You get to be that old in this business, and you've seen everything."

"Except your most trusted lieutenant breaking your neck it seems," Rogen said as the inflatable made a lazy circle in the pool. Dragon didn't rise to the bait, but it did give him some food for thought.

"Do we know anything about Big's mammals?" Dragon asked, turning to Liu.

"As much as anyone else. All loyal, especially that big fucker Koslov. No way they'd turn on him," she answered.

"It'd be too convenient obviously," Dragon said, and he sat silently for a while. They were still way in the dark about the way Big operated, but Dragon bet he wasn't used to being on the back foot. The shrew had underestimated the Triad, allowed some of his best men to get killed. And he wouldn't let them go if he could avoid it. _So maybe we hit him in the one place he'd least expect?_

"We need more information," Dragon said. "I wish Tran was still here, we could have at least gotten a decent layout of his compound. But I guess we'll have to go for the next big thing… or rather, the _least_ big thing." He turned back to Rogen. "How confident are you at getting into the Big compound without being noticed?"

"Easily. You've seen that place. Mostly polar bears, and I bet no one looks down unless they know a smaller meal is in the place. Hell, even when we met him with Shifu, their eyes never went lower than him," the rat said.

"OK. I think the only way to settle this is to hit him where he lives, literally, but we're gonna need to plan very well. That means getting a layout, trying to get a handle on his routine, the patrols, everything. Think we can do that?"

"Should be doable. What, you thinking about doing something similar to the Kowloon job?" Rogen asked, his eyes suddenly alert.

Dragon nodded in response. Rogen, while being a fierce combatant, was especially skilled in the art of stealth. Few large mammals suspected rats as being dangerous, and Rogen had used that to his advantage multiple times. People see a vent, and they think of airflow. Rogen, however, would see an entrance, or an emergency exit, or a convenient place to leave a bug or bomb. He'd once constructed a C4 explosive in the bank of a rival Triad, ferrying small amounts of C4 into a crack in the building until it was large enough to blow the bolts off the vault door. It had taken nearly two weeks, carefully timed between camera sweeps and guard patrols, but it came as a complete surprise when it blew. The soldiers inside were so concerned by the explosive inside that they'd had their back to the doors when Dragon and the rest of the Triad simply ran in the front door and started fighting.

If they could get a layout of the Big compound, they could do the same. Hell, maybe they could pack in some explosives right next to Big's bedroom. It'd take a few weeks, but it seemed their best option.

"Yeah, I think that might do the trick," Dragon replied, and he began laying out the basics of the plan.

Meanwhile, in the gutter above their heads, the wind lightly blew a dead leaf, just long enough that a tiny piece of clear plastic, about the size of a nail head, would have been visible. Attached to that was possibly the thinnest piece of wire constructed by mammal hands. This, in turn, led to a tiny pair of headphones on the head of an Etruscan shrew, the smallest mammal in the world.

She sat there for hours, listening to the plans being made, recording them and making notes, occasionally taking a small sip of water and taking a bite of some food with high salt content. Very occasionally, she had to make use of some very small jars. She was very thorough like that; people didn't hire her to get _most_ of a conversation, after all.

Eventually, the Triads called it a night and headed inside, causing the shrew to follow them through a small crack in the roof tiles. She made her way through the attic and to a small hole she had made for the purpose of hanging the microphone and camera assembly. The targets went to their separate rooms, all except for two mammals who entered the same one, which she made a note of again. She'd been observing the group for the last three days, so it was not like this was new information. Still, she was nothing but meticulous.

Another three hours went by as the various residents conducted their nightly rituals, be that cleaning their claws and weapons, taking a bath, or for one room's occupants, having sex. She turned off the microphone to the camera at that point. She had more than enough recordings of that, so it'd be unprofessionally obscene otherwise. She was a spy, not a voyeur. Unless, she was hired to be a voyeur, of course, proving infidelity was one of her most reliable revenue streams. Although, her current client was interested in many other things. At least he was playing well, even if she was getting the family discount for her work.

When it seemed like the mammals were all finally asleep, she packed up her equipment and sent a single text from her phone. She then made her way to the hole in the roof tiles, skittered across the roof, and deftly climbed down the drain pipe. She landed and then made her way out of the street. She travelled for five miles, which due to her size and being on foot, took her almost 45 minutes. Arriving at another suburb, sized for medium mammals, she stopped in a bush and waited. Five minutes later, a nondescript but large black car pulled up and opened its a door. She quickly ran to it and scrambled up the small pneumatic ramp that came out, the door shutting behind her soon after. She then climbed up the small staircase that led to the huge backseat, and finally made her way to the centre and sat at the considerably smaller seat, right next to her client.

"Well my child, were you successful?"

"Got exactly what you need here, Uncle Big."

* * *

Judy stared at the map on the table as she paced back and forth on its surface, it being far taller than comfortable for her to do so on the floor. It was necessary due to the majority of the officers in the task force being over three times her size, so she put up with it. Nick, meanwhile, was stood on one of the large chairs surrounding the table, tapping on his phone while taking the occasional sip from a coffee cup from Snarlbucks.

Technically they were on a break, but he was the only one taking advantage of it, checking his social media. Neither of them had much time to do so over the last five days, coordinating the task force and such. Their 'spare time' at home was either re-reading reports (thankfully not having to type many themselves), sorting out logistical problems, and on one occasion, having to stop several team members from getting into a full-on brawl.

Despite the show in the bullpen, one of their officers had not been happy taking orders from Nick. When he had been found ignoring his orders on following a lead from the tip line (which to be fair, had been a dead end), Nick had reprimanded the rhino officer. One of his wolf compatriots from the same precinct had come to the rhino's defence, resulting in Nick reprimanding them as well. The officer growled, which caused several other members of the team to rally to Nick's defence while others stood back. Surprisingly, it was Officer John Prince who was one of the first to come to Nick's side. However, using his typical charm and quick wit, Nick managed to defuse the situation by cracking some jokes. Of course, when the jokes had stopped, he threw the rhino and wolf out of the task force and sent them back to their precinct in shame.

Their captain had personally called Precinct One and apologised for their behaviour, informing them the two mammals had been placed on two weeks' unpaid suspension for disobeying a superior's orders. Nick had felt bad about that, but Bogo had reassured him he'd done the right thing. Being in charge sometimes meant making tough choices, ones that could become regrettable later on. Besides, Bogo had pointed out that all Nick had done was kick them out of the task force. It was their captain who had suspended them. True, it was mainly for making his precinct look bad, but that decision had made it an internal matter for Precinct Twenty-Six and outside the remit of Judy and Nick's roles as leaders of the task force.

The fact that those officers had come from the same precinct as Detective Hunter had caused some concern, though the remaining mammals from there had gone out of their way to show the couple they bore no ill will over the matter. Honestly, they seemed more frightened of pissing off the pair than before. Judy and Nick reasoned they'd take their fear if they couldn't gain their respect before laughing for most of the night over the insanity of two polar bears being scared of them.

 _And if that wasn't enough, we've got barely anything to work on!_ Judy thought. They'd been trying to track down mammals of interest, but so far, that endeavour wasn't bearing fruit. The members of the various crime families… correction, _suspected_ members of crime families, had been brought in for questioning. Unfortunately, they all had very good lawyers. Yes, a case could be made that withholding information related to at least three murders would make them an accessory to the crime, but considering there was no evidence of the members actually knowing about said murders, they couldn't make it stick. Simply talking to a murder suspect wasn't a crime after all.

There were some leads, mainly involving Jack Khartoum, a "known" lieutenant and enforcer in the Stallieone Mafia. It was basically confirmed at this point, but the police had been having a damned hard time proving it, about as hard as finding him now. The horse had seemingly disappeared in recent weeks, conveniently after Dragon had murdered Detective Coulton. It was all so frustrating.

"Take it easy, Carrots," Nick said, interrupting Judy's thoughts. "Ancient Rome wasn't burned to the ground in a day, or something like that."

"How can you be so relaxed?" Judy said with a slight chuckle and groan at the joke. She envied Nick's ability to relax, or at least how he went through the motions of it. She was so tense that her shoulders felt like they had turned to concrete.

"Lots of practice. You kinda have to at least look relaxed when trying to sell a TV that 'fell off a truck' to someone. Or when having to sleep next to a dumpster." He took a sip of his drink as if to punctuate his point.

Once again, being reminded of Nick's hard life momentarily distracted the doe from the case. She started moving over to him, wanting to comfort him. This, she realised too late, was pretty much exactly his plan, because before she knew it, he had picked her up, spun her around so she was facing away from him, and began massaging her shoulders with his large, firm paws. Judy couldn't even begin to object before she felt the rough paw pads start to unknot her back. She melted into his measured ministrations.

"There we go, can't have you being so tense that you snap when turning around," he said, kneading her shoulder blades. A small pop of air caused him to stop for a second before continuing on as he felt her tension lessen under his paws. He watched as her relaxed form made her ears droop slightly, and Nick took advantage of that by giving one a light nip on the tip, to which Judy unwinded even more with a light moan.

If they hadn't been at work, perhaps this would have gone further, but an example of _why_ they shouldn't be doing this sort of thing at work appeared in the form of Office Prince bursting into the room. This, of course, caused Judy to jump, slamming her head into Nick's chin and sending him tumbling off his chair.

"Ow."

"Uhm… do I need to come back later?" Officer Prince asked as Judy helped her fiancé off the floor before returning to the tabletop. Both mammals brushed themselves off and tried their best to appear as though nothing had happened.

"No, of course not John," Judy answered as Nick rubbed his chin. "Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked, daring him to answer.

"Uhm, right…" Prince said, obvious embarrassment showing as he tried to stifle a yawn. He'd drawn the short straw and pulled a twelve-hour 6am-start shift for today to cover the recent suspensions, and he was only eight hours into it. "Wanted to let you know, sirs, that I've got a potential sighting of Jack Khartoum from one of my contacts on the border of Savannah Central and Sahara Square."

"Really?" Judy asked, trying not to let her enthusiasm show.

"Well, I said potential," Prince replied. "One of my more reliable, uhm… fox hustlers…" he trailed off as he tried not to look Nick directly in the eye.

"It's fine, Prince," Nick said reassuringly. "Stereotypes do come from somewhere after all, even if a lot of them are unfounded." He let that statement float in the air for a second longer than necessary. "Who is it? I might know him."

"Gon Genkuro. Works out of Little Tokyo?"

"Christ, he's still around? He was an old hustler when I was starting. Taught me a couple of things in my early days of hustling. I honestly thought he was dead. What's he up to now?"

"Well, I should say 'retired,' but he runs a pawn shop in the area. You know, the kind that isn't too fussy on where the merchandise comes from?"

"Yeah, sounds like old Gon alright. Tell him Nick Wilde says hi next time you see him."

"Will do. Anyway, he has some regulars who work for the Stallieone Mafia, and he heard a couple of them talking about Jack coming back home."

"Really? So he did manage to skip town," Nick mumbled. After Coulton's murder, the police had been desperate to question Khartoum, but he seemed to have disappeared by the very next day. While they knew he wasn't a suspect in the murder, he certainly was a mammal of interest. His home was empty, and the contacts who knew him were reluctant to talk, embarrassed even. "Didn't we have someone on a stakeout?" he asked Judy.

"We did…" Judy said, reading through some papers on the desk. "Yeah, we had Bhrast and Kelsey, but we pulled them after three days of no activity. Needed them checking up on other leads."

"Doesn't seem like he's hiding now," Nick mused. "We got anyone who can drive over, ask some questions?"

"I could do it," Prince said quickly.

"Sorry John, but we need some detectives doing this, and we don't have a second mammal to send with you," Judy replied. She smiled at his willingness though. "Tell you what, you did well with this. It's, what, just after two? Why don't you head home early? We'll go talk to Khartoum."

"But I thought we were short-staffed?" Prince replied.

"Well, we are until tomorrow. Some new officers will be joining us by then, our replacements plus two more thanks to Bogo. There's not really anything else worth following up on right now. Go get some rest. See you at eight in the morning," Judy said before returning to her paperwork.

"You heard the lady, get going John," Nick said warmly before joining Judy. "We better refresh ourselves on Khartoum before heading over," he said as Prince exited the room.

John Prince scratched the back of his head as he headed out of the precinct. He was getting to be very surprised by the rabbit and fox. Detective Hopps had embarrassed him on his first day in the task force, but he reasoned he would keep his head down and get on with his job since Bogo seemed to be on their side. Detective Wilde, meanwhile, had compounded it. He'd made jokes constantly about it for the first two days. OK, they were fairly funny, and they hadn't been that bad, but Prince was a lion. And lions had their pride, a pride that had been dented during those encounters.

The embarrassment had lasted a couple of days as Prince manned the public tip line, dealing with all manners of crazies. After he'd been released from that duty, he'd seen the two detectives work really well, and they had treated him as a full member of the team. Hell, even Wilde had stopped someone else making jokes about him.

He kinda wished he'd seen that side of them earlier, especially considering the text he'd just sent.

Prince felt the guilt build up during the fifteen-minute walk to the subway station. It wasn't even the closest to the station, and certainly not the quickest route home. As he entered the subway car, which was quite empty at this time of day, he sat down. Yet even with all the free seats available, someone sat down next to him.

"So, you got something for me?" Detective Charlie Hunter asked.

* * *

Notes:

Thanks to DrummerMax64 for his edits and proofing.


	16. Neighsayer

So been a while huh? Oh and some notes at the beginning of the chapter too? Ominous.

So yeah, I haven't been keeping up much with this as I recently lost my job. Yay unemployment. I'm looking and hopefully will have something soon.

And I hate being one to beg, but if you do have some spare cash and you like my bullshit, I do have a ko-fi page for donations. No worries if you can't though.

/lotharhex

Once again thanks to DrummerMax64 for the proofing, now enjoy.

* * *

Hunter stretched in the seat of the car, but it did little to alleviate the knots in his back, aside from causing several concerning noises. He'd been reclining in the car seat for almost twenty hours at this point. The sun had gone down and was threatening to come up again soon. Considering the seat was designed for a mammal just a bit smaller than him, he'd be surprised if he could walk straight for a week.

No choice though, considering what Prince had told him and what was on the line, especially now that the damned kid had decided he couldn't keep being his inside-mammal. After being released from the holding cells after his attempted 'assault' on Hopps, Hunter had been informed he had gone from sick leave to suspended without pay, pending a full investigation into his conduct by Internal Affairs. The most insulting thing was that Hunter knew Bogo and Vines felt they were letting him off easy. They probably could have fired and arrested him right then and there if they felt inclined. But he knew why they hadn't.

They pitied him, and he _hated_ it.

People giving some sympathy after your partner was killed? Fair enough. But he knew pity when he saw it. They thought he'd lost it, and his fucking captain agreed with them. Everyone did. Everyone thought he'd lost it, especially after that altercation with Hopps and Wilde. Species bias aside, Hopps and Wilde were good cops, but they were NOT as good as he and Coulton were… had been. Maybe that was how the whole thing with the panda had started. But now? He just wanted to get the bastard who had killed his partner. Any cop would want the same. Hopps and Wilde? They didn't have that burning _need_ to catch the bastard. Them embarrassing him? That was just icing on the shit sandwich… or something.

Embarrassment, however, had its advantages. For instance, being able to spot it in others. As luck would have it, Hunter had been released just as the people working with Hopps and Wilde on the case were leaving the bullpen, or he had guessed so when he saw so many detectives and uniformed officers leaving at the same time. That's when he spotted Prince, seemingly trying to keep out of everyone's way. A few half-heard jokes at his expense had confirmed it for the cougar. The little pelts had done something to the lion, and suddenly Hunter felt all sympathetic and offered to buy the lion a drink.

That had led to him convincing a now very drunk junior officer to send info his way. Nothing that would get him in trouble, the kind of thing that could be overheard if someone wasn't too careful. It would have panned out perfectly… if the bastard hadn't had a sudden internal conflict of ethics. Prince told Hunter that he couldn't keep this up. Hunter had tried to placate him, but he could tell the younger police-mammal was struggling. So he'd called it off, with the pair promising each other to keep their mouths shut if either got caught. As a parting gift, Prince passed on a bit of info that Jack Khartoum was back in town.

And so, 24 hours later, here Hunter was, staking out the bastard's townhouse. Or rather, staking out the ZPD's own stakeout at the other end of the street. If they caught him here, he'd be done for. His job, his marriage, everything. But most importantly, and he knew he should feel bad for putting this first, his retribution was at stake.

He checked his phone, still plugged into the charging cable and nearly at 100%. He then turned back to the tablet in his paw, which was linked to the dashcam his wife had installed in her small blue city car. As a personal injury claim lawyer, she knew the value of such a device, having lost a case that had proved her own client had lied about being the victim of the accident. Since she worked for a firm that advertised its services as "no win no fee," that had been embarrassing for her. The firm was successful enough, and they knew they wouldn't always win the "he said she said" cases, but that had been her first loss. She prided herself on being a good lawyer, especially having only started into the career in her thirties, long after most mammals had graduated from college and would probably be making more money than her at that point.

So, she'd purchased a dashcam for herself and always doubled-checked the evidence logs to see if her clients or the opposition's client had any other such devices or recordings.

And Hunter had learned how to use the device with his phone and tablet because it had been an interesting new gadget.

Well, OK, he had his son teach him. The same son who had lent him the tablet he now used interchangeably with the phone. When one ran low on battery, he switched to the other. This meant he could lie back in his seat, which kept him _just_ out of the line of sight of any mammal who casually glanced at the car. Meanwhile, he could watch the phone or tablet video feed for, say, a pair of out-of-uniform officers staking out a potential accessory-to-murder's house. Like he was doing now. Couple that with the _less than legally acquired_ police radio scanner he had installed in the car, and he could keep an eye on them.

Hunter hated doing this. Stakeouts were always the worst part of the job anyway, but doing it on fellow cops? It felt wrong. But what choice did he have? Now that Officer Prince had tossed his lot in with the rabbit and fox, he didn't have another way to keep tabs on the investigation. It's not like he could keep an eye out for Khartoum himself with the ZPD surveilling the horse's house like hawks. Luckily for him, the stakeout was in staggered shifts, so the various teams didn't spend more than five hours watching the house. That meant that as long as Hunter kept out of sight (and didn't run out of bottles to pee into), he wouldn't be recognised.

However, he was going to have to leave soon, because the covered (and more importantly, air-sealed) bucket he used to do his _other_ business in was getting full, even with the 'binding' diet he was using for this mission of his.

Hunter just hoped something would happen soon. His eyes were starting to feel tired, and he was getting cramps in his legs. He yawned loudly and tried his best to stretch again. Perhaps the next shift break would give him a chance to sneak away for a few minutes. The mammals who were doing the stakeout were not really paying attention now, and their shift was almost up.

He checked the screen and then heard the faint sound of an abused but well-maintained engine starting up. The other car pulled away, the tiger and wolf inside not noticing the cougar stationed nearby. He had a few minutes before their relief showed up in another position. After all, having multiple cars parked in the same spot over an extended period? Possible, but risky for an operation like this.

Hunter had to wait to see where they would park before moving himself. He didn't want to give his own position away, just in case the mammals who replaced the previous shift were more observant. So he waited, fighting all the while to keep his eyes open.

* * *

Nick was suspicious. He was a detective, it was his job to feel that way. But right now, something didn't feel right. He could taste it.

"Carrots, I think I got your coffee," he said, handing the cup to Judy after she parked. He took the other one from the cup holder and sipped it. _Caramel latte. Perfect._

"Thanks, Slick," Judy said, sipping the coffee he had handed her. She adjusted her seat slightly, prompting Nick to do the same. They were in for a long, boring stakeout unless they got lucky. The other officers who'd been there before them had reported nothing unusual aside from a pizza delivery. A patrol officer had followed the delivery driver for a few blocks before determining that yes, it was just a pizza delivery. Still, Khartoum was still the best lead they had on finding the Jade Triad members, which they needed to do quickly.

Though in reality, Nick knew they were probably not going to get anything today. Hell, the task force hadn't even been established for a full week yet. Most of the task force was still chasing up leads on the local street-gang level, hoping to find some way of working upwards towards the mid-to-high tier members who might actually know something. They were probably weeks away from that happening, at least. So, they were following every lead, and that meant sitting in a car for hours on end in government-paid-for seats. Just had to be fine with the crippling muscle pain from hours of inactivity.

"You think Khartoum's gonna be dumb enough to do anything so soon after being near where a cop was killed?" Judy asked, staring at the front door of the townhouse, idly sipping her coffee.

Nick thought on that for a minute. While she would probably never say it out loud, she thought Nick had a better take on criminal mindsets than her. He'd be insulted if it wasn't 100% accurate.

"Well, from his file and what we've seen of him, I'd say he's careful but overconfident. I mean, he skipped town immediately after the murder, but he's back after less than two weeks? He's either confident we don't have anything that can link him to the murder…"

"Which we don't," Judy cut in.

"...or he thinks he's covered himself enough to be safe. And yes, we can't fully connect him to the murder. I mean, we don't need to. We know who did it. We're after Dragon, not him. And that's what he's betting on. He probably doesn't want to get caught or anything if he's planning on moving against Big, but he hasn't committed any actual crimes that we can prove or that he hasn't already served time for. So it's not like he HAD to skip town."

"And yet he did," Judy said. "So if he hasn't got anything to worry about, why did he run?"

Nick chuckled at his mate's words. They'd gone through this a dozen times back at Precinct One, but it's not like they didn't have time and air to fill. "Panic," he finally answered. "We're assuming he's working with Dragon to try and take on Big for whatever reason. But killing a cop? Not part of the plan. So he panicked, left town to calm down, realised it was a mistake and came back."

"And that gives us something to work with. If he was rattled enough to run, he might be rethinking this whole working relationship, and point us in Dragon's direction."

"Yup," Nick said, swirling his drink. "Though I can't say I'm fond of the idea of maybe having to work out a deal with this guy if there is something he can do to lead us to Dragon. The guy's in deep with the Stallione family. They've got the drugs racket sewn up in the Rainforest District and control a quarter of the ports."

Allegedly," Judy prompted.

"Yes, allegedly, oh stickler for the law," Nick said, rolling his eyes. "It's days like this where I become nostalgic for working outside the law. Life was simpler."

"More dangerous though, especially when you sell someone a skunk-butt rug," Judy said and giggled. When she and Nick had gotten closer, she'd managed to get him to tell her everything about the whole skunk-butt rug thing that had caused his rift with Mr Big, and quite frankly, the entire situation was ludicrous, scary and damn hilarious. "I especially like the bit with the noodles."

"I still can't look at a pot of ramen without wincing," Nick said, chuckling alongside his partner. After a few seconds, they settled down and continued watching the townhouse. After fifteen minutes of no activity, Nick's mind began to wander back to his previous statement about being nostalgic for life on the other side of the law. Well, not so much as on the other side, more adjacent to it. He never did anything illegal, or rather, never got caught, but it was easier. Simpler.

Take this stakeout, for example. Essentially, they were really hoping to get lucky with Khartoum, banking on the possibility of him slipping up to provide them with enough evidence to move against him and Dragon. Without that, their paws were tied. Now, back when he worked with Big? Simple. If Big had a problem with someone, he simply sent a group of polar bears to stomp them flat, sometimes literally if they were small enough. Or so he heard.

Again, _crime adjacent._ Nick never took part in anything that even closely resembled murder. Hell, the worst he'd ever done was slash the tires of the delivery van of a banker who had been lax in his protection payments. While it was true Nick lived in a place of grey areas, in a lot of ways, the criminal underworld was very black and white. Fuck up? Get fucked up.

 _Couldn't think like that anymore though, thankfully_ , he thought. While it was simple, it was nowhere _near_ good _. I mean, I didn't have Judy in my life at that time, for starters_.

Time dragged on in the stakeout, and while the partners could chat, they couldn't really do much else but stare at the front of the house. Even with an easy relationship as theirs, the conversation dulled until they were both just sitting and trying not to nod off. The sun had set an hour ago, the city streetlights casting an ambient glow in the darkness outside the car. Nick checked his watch. He groaned at the realisation that they had just passed the halfway point.

"Shh!" Judy hissed, the urgency of which snapped Nick out of his fugue. He looked in the direction Judy was looking and saw…a pizza delivery mammal.

"Oh thanks, Fluff, wouldn't want to miss this thrilling adventure. Maybe the main mammal will turn up next? Scandalous," Nick said, rolling his eyes as he did so to add emphasis to his sarcastic tone.

"Oh hush you, it's something!" Judy snapped back, the boredom getting to her as well.

"Yeah, but why the drama? It's pizza."

"I mean, does Khartoum like pizza? Is this a regular thing for him?"

"Judy, he's part of a crime family with Italian roots. It'd be weirder if he _didn't_ eat pizza," Nick shot back, playing things up a little to try and relieve the boredom of the past few hours. Antagonising Judy was always good for a few minutes of entertainment.

"Well that's not slightly racist or anything," Judy admonished.

"Oh, you're no fun, Fluff. Come on! It's pizza. Everyone likes pizza! In fact, this is making me hungry, should we order one?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows at Judy as she kept looking out of the car.

"Well, considering Khartoum just came out of the house and is heading for his car, that'll probably need to be put on hold," Judy said, sliding down in her seat slightly.

"Wait, what?" Nick turned back to the scene, and sure enough, he saw Khartoum getting into his Furred Mustang. The engine fired up, echoing off the houses around the area. The horse accelerated out of the street…and towards the waiting partners. Nick ducked down just before the car turned directly towards them. It drove past, going much faster than he thought reasonable. Judy turned on their car's engine and checked the Mustang's progress in the mirror, making sure it was beginning to turn out of sight before gunning the engine in an effort to catch up, but at the same time remain somewhat hidden.

"Yeah, must be that pizza he loves. He loves it so much he's letting it go cold," she said when she was driving at a somewhat respectable speed.

"Har har," Nick replied after making sure his seat belt was buckled securely. "Fine, pizza's on me after this, just don't lose him."

Nick kept his eyes on the Mustang. While Zootopia's streetlights were on, the shadows still made it easy to lose the horse if he and Judy didn't pay attention. His decent night vision would help with that, leaving Judy to concentrate on driving to keep up with the horse as he directed her. They were trying to remain unnoticed, but Khartoum was driving a little erratically. He was keeping a constant speed, so Nick didn't think they'd been spotted. It was clear Khartoum was in a hurry though, since he was exceeding the speed limit multiple times.

"Shit," Nick muttered before grabbing the car's radio. "Almost forgot our own rules, Fluff," he said as he turned it on. "Sierra Oscar Seven to dispatch, message for Operation Triad officers. Target Jack Khartoum has left his home and is currently heading south out of Central. Following at a distance."

"Roger that, Sierra Oscar Seven," the voice of the nightly dispatch officer responded. Clawhauser had finished his shift a while ago, so it was now being covered by a lioness that took a few seconds for Nick to remember the name of.

"Thanks, Shelly," he replied. "Please put out an advisory to officers. Target car is a red Mustang, plate number KH4T0M, driving erratically. If any beat officers see this car, advise them to back off. We need to follow him."

"Good thinking, Slick," Judy whispered as she kept her eyes on Khartoum. They didn't want some cop who would only be doing their job to spook Khartoum if he was going somewhere important to the investigation. His driving seemed to suggest so, but then again, for all they knew he could have just had a massive hankering for doughnuts and his favourite bakery was about to close.

"Roger that, Sierra Oscar Seven. Do you need backup?" Shelly asked. Nick turned to Judy, who shrugged in response.

"Negative dispatch, but keep units on standby just in case. Sierra Oscar Seven out." Nick replaced the handset. They needed to know where Khartoum was going before calling backup.

So, they simply followed and kept quiet, both of them focusing on the car ahead and trying not to appear like they were tailing it. There were a couple of times where they thought they'd lost him, but they managed to pick up the trail again with the combination of Nick's superior night vision and Judy's hearing identifying the unique engine of the Mustang when it could. Traffic was a lot lighter now, which made it easier to follow and hear, but it also meant there was less chance of hiding their pursuit.

Or pursuers.

On a whim, Nick turned away from Khartoum's car as it headed out of the main city towards the suburbs. Something didn't seem quite right. He glanced behind them, seeing a few cars driving on the road with them. Nothing seemed out of ordinary, but when he checked again a few minutes later, he noticed one car that was still following along behind them, a small blue city one. OK yes, they could simply be heading in the same direction as them, but after Judy made another half dozen turns, which the car mimicked, he started to heavily doubt that.

"Fluff, I think we're being followed," he said as he reached for the radio again. He saw Judy check in the mirror for their tail as he activated the radio. "Sierra Oscar Seven to dispatch."

"Dispatch, go ahead."

"Did you send backup earlier?"

"No Sierra, you specifically said not to," the radio replied, the dispatch officer trying to hide a small amount of frustration.

"OK, fair enough. In that case, dispatch a car to our location ASAP, we might be getting tailed ourselves."

"Roger that, Sierra Oscar Seven," the mammal on the radio said, the voice becoming slightly more anxious. "We can get a patrol car from Precinct Ninety-Nine to you in two minutes."

"Negative dispatch, we require unmarked backup. Might just be paranoid, and we don't want to spook our suspect."

"Roger that, I can get an unmarked car to you in seven minutes from the same precinct if required."

Nick cursed under his breath, glancing to Judy who was looking a little more worried. Seemingly sensing her gaze on her, her nose started twitching ever so slightly. It was her go-to tell that she was excited or nervous but trying to clamp down on it. She nodded a few seconds later, to which Nick said into the radio, "Roger dispatch, send unmarked. Advise them to drive to us and see if they can see a blue city car, license… NZ67FGH I think. It's roughly 20 metres behind us at the moment. If they don't see it they can back off, but if they do see it I want it followed."

"Roger that, dispatching Detectives Peralta and Diaz. Want me to patch you through?"

"That'd be great," Nick said. After being connected to the detectives, he quickly explained the situation, to which one of the mammals on the other end replied by how excited a 'right' it was to be acting like a spy. Nick simply hung up the radio after that exchange, not sure how to reply. "Backup's on the way," he said, turning to Judy.

"Good, because I think we might be needing it," Judy replied as she brought the car to a halt. "Look where we are."

Nick glanced around at the area, having been too distracted by keeping an eye on their pursuer to take it in. He was surprised to see they had indeed driven out to the suburbs, but a brand new one that was still under construction, the basic shells of many future homes exposed to the elements. Not too much of an issue in the climate-controlled environment, but it did mean that Jack Khartoum had been the only other car on the road beside theirs. There was simply nowhere else to go.

"Did we get spotted?" Nick asked, bracing himself for Judy to make a quick exit.

"No, he actually turned down that street," she replied, pointing to a road on their left that was obscured by one of the few houses in the area to have all four walls constructed. "Figured it was best not to follow him down there… but I'm surprised he didn't notice us."

"Probably too focused on other stuff to pay attention," Nick replied before remembering their other problem. He glanced back and saw no sign of the blue car from earlier. He quickly turned on the radio and brought Peralta and Diaz up to speed, directing them to search for the blue car by repeating what he thought the license number was. Again, might be nothing, but better safe than sorry.

"Come on, let's see if we can see anything on foot," Judy said as she unbuckled herself from the car. Nick followed suit, but not before grabbing his own personal radio. He followed her as she jogged across the road. They made their way up to the house on the street corner. Judy peered around it.

"There are lights on in a house at the end of the street, and there's someone outside," she said, gesturing for Nick to look as she kept her head still around the corner of the house. Nick crept closer and pushed his muzzle between her ears, brushing them aside slightly. He peered down the street, and his night vision cleared up enough to allow him to see a culdesac of half-finished houses all along the road.

All except one, which as Judy said, had lights on. It also had a red Mustang parked out in front next to two smaller dark-coloured cars. Two figures were talking on the front lawn. One horse, and one panda.

"Oh crap," Nick whispered. "I think that's Dragon."

"Positive I.D.?"

"Can't think of any other panda whose muscles are exploding out of his shirt. Can you hear what they're saying?" Nick asked, retreating behind Judy's ears. She strained a bit but shook her head. "Not clear enough at least," she answered.

"Which means we stay out of sight and call for backup. We know where they are. Even if Khartoum leaves before we get the team here, we'll get the rest."

"And if it's just Dragon? Actually, that'd be good since that's the biggest danger off the streets," Judy said, answering her own question.

"Alright, I'll call Peralta and Diaz to tell them to join us," Nick said. He retrieved the personal radio from his pocket. "Peralta, you there?"

"Hang on Wilde… we spotted that car and it was definitely trailing you," the radio responded. "He's parked on the street next to the one you're on. Want us to approach… SHIT!"

Several shots rang out. Judy groaned as Nick turned his attention back to her, just in time to hear the starting of three separate car engines, followed by the screeching of tires. He and Judy whipped around the corner and pressed their backs to the house they were hiding behind. Khartoum's Mustang and the other two cars sped past them and drove out of the culdesac, driving in the opposite direction from where the shots came from.

"DAMMIT!" Judy screamed. She drew out her lethal pistol and sprinted back towards their car.

"Peralta!? Status report!" Nick barked into the radio as Judy zoomed past the car. He took off after her, straining to keep up.

"Shots fired, shots fired, no casualties. He's starting his engine!"

"Fuck!" Nick cursed as he turned around to head back to their own vehicle. Without thinking, he opened the door and jumped in the driver's seat, not taking the time to adjust it from Judy's driving position. He gunned the engine with his own key, seeing from the corner of his eye headlights turn out of the street parallel to the one he was on. Realising he'd have no way to turn the car around in time, he put it in reverse and slammed the accelerator down. The car's engine screamed as he took off backwards, hurtling past Judy to the end of the street, hoping he'd time it just right.

His prayers were soon answered as the escaping vehicle tried to swerve past the unmarked police car, but it was too slow. The blue car collided with the passenger's side of the larger vehicle. As far as car crashes go, it was fairly uneventful, not even causing the police car to jump sideways more than an inch. But it did its job in stopping the city car dead in its tracks.

Nick jumped out, thankfully unhurt, and ran to the driver's side of the other car just as Judy joined him. She looked furious.

"NICHOLAS WILDE HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING SO STUPID!"

"Anger later, perp now!" Nick said, causing Judy to bring her own gun up. "Sir, step out of the vehicle…oh for fuck's sake! HUNTER!?" he yelled as the cougar emerged, head and hands up.

"Oh for the love of God," Judy muttered. Her ears drooped down her back, a definite sign she was 100% fed up with this.

"Heya, pelts. Catch the bad guys yet?" the cougar said, smiling as he did so.

"One at least," Judy answered, keeping her gun on him. "You're under arrest."


End file.
